You're Not Alone
by Atariel Tsukai
Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!
1. Chapter I: The Thief And His Princess

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Chibi Atariel Tsukai

Date: October 11, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: It's been almost _two years_ since I've posted _anything_ on here! Crazy, right? Anyways, I know I already have a post-game Final Fantasy IX fanfic started on here, but that one didn't go too well. I still have some ideas for that one, but hopefully this one will be better! Strangely enough, it is based off a roleplay that was loosely based off said other fanfic. The main difference is that the bad guy is not an OC, though he does not appear in the game too much. Also, I may try to introduce a couple other than ZidanexGarnet! I admit, it may seem strange at first, but I think it's adorable! I hope y'all enjoy this as much as I do!

Disclaimer: After all of these years, I still do not own the rights to Final Fantasy IX. I do, however, have it on discs for PS One as well as on downloadable content for PS3 and PSP. So I have three games going on right now – one at the very end, one at the beginning, and one that's just gotten onto disc two!

.ix.

Chapter I: The Thief And His Princess

Zidane Tribal had never had it easy. Of course, being a former thief was a simple way to make a great amount of enemies. For as long as he could remember, he had belonged to a small family of thieves who went by the name of Tantalus and used theatrical performances to cover up their felonies. He and his "brothers" – Blank, Cinna, and Marcus – had all been taken in by Baku, a man who taught them everything they needed to know about living, performing, thieving, and saving their own hides – though not necessarily in that order. Their boss had always said that it was every man for himself, but Zidane had been the one to really look out for everyone. He had been the last member to join the group, not to mention the youngest and smallest, but also the quickest and most caring. He believed, above all else, that you never needed a reason to help people and always put the needs of others before his own.

His life changed at the age of sixteen, when he was involved in the biggest height Tantalus had, and ever would, attempt – the kidnapping of the kingdom of Alexandria's Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII. Not only had Lindblum's Regent Cid, Garnet's very own uncle, sent them, but it turned out that the Princess herself had wished to be taken away as well. What else could the young thief do but to promise the beautiful princess that he would do his very best to kidnap her and provide safe travel from Alexandria to Lindblum?

Of course, things were not straightforward. In fact, they were a lot more complicated than Zidane could have ever imagined. Nobody ever turned out to be exactly how they seemed – he was more than a thief, Garnet was not just a princess, and her mother had bigger plans than just leading the kingdom of Alexandria. People came and went out of the adventures constantly until they were all over – or, at least, they seemed to be.

.ix.

Sometimes, Queen Garnet could be surrounded by all of the people of Alexandria, but still feel completely alone. She had never expected to find that one person who could affect her in such a strong way. As a princess, she had been taught that she would marry a rich, powerful nobleman who would stand by her side while she ruled Alexandria. It all reminded her of her favorite play, Lord Avon's "I Want To Be Your Canary". The story had always intrigued her as a child, but since her sixteenth birthday, it had an even more significant meaning. It had been the play Tantalus had performed while secretly working to take her away from Alexandria. She had slipped away from her mother's side halfway through the play in attempt to stow away on the theatre ship from Lindblum, just to run into a charming young man dressed in armor belong to the Knights of Pluto. Her initial reaction had been to run and get as far away from him as she could, but she would now give almost anything to run into Zidane's arms. In fact, she felt most comfortable in them.

Unfortunately, she had spent almost an entire year fearing that she would never feel his warm embrace ever again. At the end of their long-winded journey, Zidane had stayed behind at the Iifa Tree to keep their entire traveling party safer, as well as to attempt to save his long-lost-and-forgotten brother, Kuja, even though he had been their enemy. Garnet suffered from haunting nightmares of losing her first-and-only love every night until the day of her coronation. As a present, Tantalus insisted that they performed for her once more, with no kidnapping involved this time, of course. She did feel that she had something stolen from her that day, however – her heart had been taken once again as Marcus threw off his cloak in the last act and revealed a familiar blond man demanding "Bring my beloved Dagger to me!"

Life was beginning to get better. Garnet was the queen of Alexandria, yet she still loved Zidane, a former thief back from the dead. She traded in her responsibilities for a few moments in exchange to be held by her love. She cried her eyes out, begging him to never leave again. She asked him how he survived the living tree that had tried to trap and kill them all. He told her that he sand their song, the same song he had once walked up onto a balcony to hear her singing beautifully. The song that was a dearest memory that kept him reaching out to live. The rest of the coronation celebration went by smoothly and most of the audience even called it a night early in order to allow their queen to reconnect with the man they could all see that she loved dearly.

Everything was perfect, but unfortunately that did not seem like it would last very long.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: Well, there you have chapter one! It's basically a short-but-sweet recap of Zidane and Garnet's emotions throughout the game. I always seem to do this when writing fics that happen after whatever I'm writing about. Hopefully that's okay! Please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter II: A Special Day

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Chibi Atariel Tsukai

Date: October 30, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: And I'm back! Thank you so much, zestychicken2, for being so supportive of me continuing this! If y'all have the time, go check out Filling In The Blanks! It's a really great fanfic of an alternate universe FFIX! I'm only on chapter five, but I'm in love! 3

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed, unfortunately, I still don't own Final Fantasy IX. If I did, there would be spin-offs by now!

.ix.

Chapter II: A Special Day

Zidane stood by Garnet's side, shifting uncomfortably in his formal wear. He had been back for almost five years now, yet he could not get used to wearing the clothes that the noblemen of Alexandria wore on a daily basis. They were too tight in all of the wrong areas and barely gave him room to move, let alone breathe. Not to mention that the clothes made him look absolutely ridiculous. The formal clothes were even worse than the Knights of Pluto armor he and Blank had worn exactly six years ago to this day, the day he met Garnet. Unfortunately, although he was not a nobleman, he was expected to wear such clothes while in the castle, especially when business was going on.

"Zidane, you may go change and wander into the kingdom," Garnet told him for what was at least the tenth time that day. She was meeting with the nobles to review her first half-decade as the Queen of Alexandria. Everything seemed to be going fine, besides the fact that a certain monkey-tailed male was fidgeting around next to her and muttering something about how he would take cookie crumbs in his pockets over this.

"And miss out on all the fun? No way!" the blond said with a playful grin. Azure eyes watched as the nobles began to speak amongst themselves as it was the appointed lunchtime and they were all headed for the dining hall. He would have loved to go out for lunch instead of eating fancy castle food, but if he had his way, both he and his beloved Dagger would be having a half-decent meal out somewhere in the kingdom. He definitely preferred Lindblum's food, but Alexandra's common food would have to do. "Besides, today's a special day and I want to be right by your side for all of it," he told her with yet another smile.

Zidane waited for the last noble to exit the throne room, but before he could do anything, he felt a warm body pressing up against him, soft lips pressed to his. The playful smirk returned to his lips as he returned the kiss. "I _would_ like to request your presence after all of this royal business is over, though, _Queen Garnet_," he said in the most snooty voice he could come up with.

Garnet giggled softly, a sound that was like music to his ears. "I shall have to check with my royal advisors to be certain that my afternoon is free," she joked right back, letting her arms rest on his shoulders as she pressed another soft kiss to his lips. She pulled back slightly, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling as they looked into his azure pair. "Are you asking me on a date, _Zidane Tribal_? Maybe a romantic airship ride where you'll try to woo me?" she asked sweetly.

He was about to answer and return the second kiss, but the familiar noise of a throat being cleared could be heard. Garnet pulled away, her pale cheeks flushed a soft pink, but he grinned widely regardless of the fact that they had just been caught being intimate. "Hey, Rusty. Don't worry, we're coming," Zidane reassured with a laugh. He pulled back from Garnet as well, though he kept her hand comfortably inside his own. "Shall we move along, my Queen? The nobles of Alexandria wait to dine with you," he mocked, bowing dramatically.

The Queen giggled softly. "Why, yes! Let us go," she responded happily. She began to lead the way out of the throne room, bowing her head politely to Steiner and Beatrix. "Good afternoon, Steiner. Good afternoon, Beatrix," she greeted with a warm smile.

The other couple bowed lowly in return. "Congratulations on five very successful years, my Queen," Beatrix complimented.

Garnet gave another smile. "Thank you very much," she said before looking back at Zidane. "Are you sure you will be okay having lunch here?" she asked, concerned.

The blond nodded. "Of course. Just as long as I'll have your company for the rest of the day, after all these noble guys are gone," he answered.

Yet another soft giggle escaped the Queen's lips. "I think I can manage to grant that request," she told him before curiously asking, "What do you have planned?"

"Afraid I can't tell you. Where would be the fun in that?" Zidane asked with a wide grin and a laugh.

"You're such a tease, Zidane," Garnet said, though she spoke in an amused tone. "Let's go eat."

"As you wish, my beloved Dagger," he responded with a warm smile.

.ix.

Lunch and the rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully. Zidane had found himself standing several times and walking around the throne room to stretch his legs as well as the rest of his body, but never ventured far from Garnet's side. He now stood right next to her, bowing his head as she curtseyed each time a noble left.

Once the occupants were down to Zidane, Steiner, Beatrix, and herself, Garnet covered her mouth with one hand and yawned. "Thank goodness that is over. I think I have had quite enough for today," she commented.

The blond fixed her with the cutest pout he could muster. "Don't tell me you're going to bed. Did you forget about our date?" he asked in a slight whine.

Chocolate-colored eyes blinked softly at Zidane's question and the raven-haired female blushed faintly. "No, of course not, Zidane. Steiner, Beatrix, we will be going into the kingdom for several hours. You two should go enjoy yourself as well," she said with a kind smile.

"Don't you dare pull any tricks on our Queen, scoundrel," Steiner said to Zidane, though he wore a smile. The blond simple grinned awkwardly in return. The two guards saluted their Queen, then exited the throne room like the noblemen before them.

Garnet turned to face Zidane with a small smile. "Let's get changed into more comfortable clothes before we head out," she suggested.

Zidane smiled and nodded, taking Garnet's hand and heading through the castle corridors until they reached the upper living quarters. They each went into their separate bed chambers in order to change their clothes.

Upon returning to the hall, they looked at each other and realized that they each had the exact same idea. Garnet was wearing her orange-and-white traveling jumper with her pink-and-white cloak over it while Zidane had his mostly teal theater getup on, covered by the cloak he had worn during the Tantalus's last performance of 'I Want To Be Your Canary'. Expert seamstresses had remade both of their outfits several times throughout the years, since the couple had both grown a tad since their grand adventure. Both cloak were the original articles, though. Garnet's even had the burn marks from when Vivi had accidentally clipped her with a fire spell. The two were very attached to their casual clothes since it had once been the only way they had seen each other.

Zidane smiled softly, deciding to break the silence that had settled over them while they were checking each other out. He leaned down slightly, pretending like he could not see her face under the hood of her cloak. "Let's see," he hummed.

Garnet's pale face flushed a tiny bit and she wiped at it with the sleeve of her cloak. "Is there something on my face?" she asked, afraid that she had been unaware of some leftover lunch that the nobles would have surely noticed and silently criticized her for during their gathering.

The Genome smiled quite a bit, his tail swaying slightly. "Oh, no. You see, I just thought maybe you were the one I'd been waiting for all this time." The smile only grew as a look of confusion crossed the Queen's face, followed by a flash of realization.

She took a step closer to Zidane, a caring smile on her lips as well. "I wish to never take my leave of you again, my thief," she whispered, placing her soft hands on his strong chest. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

Zidane smirked playfully. "Don't worry. I'll never let someone as pretty as you get away again," he promised, returning the kiss. "Now, let's go have some fun," he said, taking her hands in both of his and winking.

Garnet gently squeezed Zidane's hands and nodded. "All righty!" she exclaimed. The two of them looked at each other for a few more moments, then laughed softly. As they headed out of the castle, the raven-haired Queen asked, "You have something big planned, don't you?"

The blond former thief grinned widely. "You know me too well. Still, that's for me to know," he teased.

In the kingdom, there were booths set up all around. Azure eyes watched with a smile as Garnet's chocolate-colored eyes sparkled with excitement. "It's been too long since I've had the chance to be out here with all of my people. Thank you, Zidane," she said with a smile.

Zidane nodded. "We're only starting our day off. It'll get even better," he promised.

As they walked down the cobblestone path, the wind picked up overhead, blowing both of their hoods down and whipping their hair around. Garnet looked up, her eyes still sparkling, as an all-too-familiar airship flew overhead. "That's. . . the Prima Vista!" she exclaimed in awe. She glanced over to Zidane. "How?"

The blond grinned and took her hand, pulling the raven-haired female down the street at a quicker pace. Soon enough, they reached the docking area, where the people of Alexandria were beginning to gather as well.

"Dagger! Zidane!" the voice of a preteen girl shouted from a balcony up on the airship.

Dagger shielded her eyes from the bright midday sun, even though she did not need to see who was calling out to know that it was none other than Eiko Fabool 'nee Carol til Lindblum X. As soon as the Prima Vista landed and was tied to the airship dock, the Princess quickly dropped down the ladder and ran over to the couple, throwing her arms around the two of them. The Queen returned the gesture, then realized that something was off. The twelve-year-old was crying, her petite frame shaking. "Eiko. . . What is the matter?" she asked softly, gentle running her hand over short indigo hair.

Chocolate-colored eyes wandered up to meet azure ones, though they were turned to the deck their young friend had come down from. The members of Tantalus – Baku, Marcus, Cinna, and Blank – were all gathered, looking down at the former member. There seemed to be silent words exchanged between the five. "Lindblum. . is under attack. . . " Zidane breathed out.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: There's chapter two for you, and a nice cliffhanger to go along with it! This chapter is a little more than twice the length as the first, so I thought that it would be okay to stop it where I did. Please let me know what you think with a review!


	3. Chapter III: Under Siege

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai (I've taken the Chibi out of my name!)

Date: November 20, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: Completely unrelated to the fanfiction, but I went to the early showing of Big Hero 6 on November 6 and it was AMAZING! If you are planning on going, I recommend that you see it ASAP and be prepared to laugh and cry really hard! Such a good movie!

Disclaimer: Still wishing that I owned FFIX. If I did, it would also be represented much better in the Kingdom Hearts series!

.ix.

Chapter III: Under Siege

That morning had started off like any other one. Eiko had been sleeping peacefully in her very own room, dreaming of going on a new adventure with her friends.

Ever since she had overhead a conversation between her adoptive father, Regent Cid Fabool of Lindblum, and the members of the Tantalus theatre troupe about flying to Alexandria as a surprise to Garnet at Zidane's request, she had practically been begging for permission to go with them. Cid wanted to keep her close, however, and Hilda scolded her about how it was very unbecoming of a princess to fuss like she did. Of course, neither of them could put her off. She was used to doing her own thing without adult permission or supervision, so she sometimes found it hard to grant the wishes of her family.

The late morning sun shone through her window, warming up her bed and petite body. The twelve-year-old girl stirred slowly, then woke up quickly as soon as she remembered what day it was. "Okay! Time to talk Dad into letting me go! Today's the day!" she exclaimed to no one in particular. She still had the habit of talking to herself, which she had attained throughout her lonely childhood. She ran over to her vanity, her teal eyes looking at herself in the mirror and widening. "Oh, jeez! I definitely need to fix my hair!" she yelped, grabbing a brush off the table and starting to run it through her messy indigo locks.

Soon enough, she was trying to pick out what she would wear. "Maybe if I wear a really princessy dress, he'll give up," she said thoughtfully. He nose scrunched up in disgust, however, and she shook her head vigorously. "That wouldn't be any good for travel, though. I'd have to get changed again before we leave!"

The young princess surveyed her closet until she found a remake of her old jumpsuit. "Perfect!" she cheered happily as she removed it from the hanger and headed for the washroom. She washed up and dressed quickly before heading down to the kitchens.

"Hey, Quina! Have Mom and Dad eaten breakfast yet?" she asked, thinking that she could have a special meal whipped up for some extra points in her adoptive parents' book.

The chef looked over to the young summoner. "Is past noon. Time for lunch, not breakfast," s/he answered as if that was the most obvious fact in all of Gaia.

Teal eyes blinked a few times, then wandered up to the clock. "What? I didn't sleep in _that_ late!" A moment or two passed and Eiko began to panic. "No! Tantalus should be leaving soon! No, no, _NO_!" she cried before running out of the kitchens, leaving behind a very confused Qu.

She ran through the corridors as quickly as her growing legs could carry her. She hopped onto the elevator and impatiently jabbed at the button for the level she needed to reach. "Come _on_!"

The shaft reached the throne room level with a soft ding and opened creakily. She sprinted the small distance and doubled over once she spotted the familiar men of the theatre troupe. "M-made it. . . " she breathed out heavily.

Unfortunately, she did not realize that the group of ex-thieves was just about to leave. They all crossed their arms above their chests, punching on fist into the other open hand in their customary salute, signaling the end of their audience with Cid. "Whoa, wait! Don't leave yet! I wanna come with you guys! I wanna see Zidane and Dagger, too! Dad, _please_ let me go! It's Garnet's birthday!"

The Regent was about to respond to his daughter's pleads when a thunderous crash sounded from far away, shaking the Lindblum Castle. "Guards! What was that?" he demanded. Several of his men ran out of the throne room to check on the disruption.

Eiko stood there quietly with her small hands clenched into fists by her side. She tried to wait patiently for the issue to be resolved so she could get the answer she wanted from her father. Her gaze wandered over to the Tantalus once more as they also waited for the return of the guards. Another rumble shook the room harder that time and the girl fell to her knees.

Cid cursed under his breath and looked at Baku. "You must leave for Alexandria at once. Warn Queen Garnet that we may need aid in battle. Please, take Eiko with you," the Regent said firmly.

Teal eyes widened at the man's words. "Wh-what?" the indigo-haired prepreteen gasped out. Cid was sending her away now because the city was possibly in danger? Her heart sank. 'This isn't what I wanted. . . ' she thought to herself. She blinked away forming tears and shook her head some. "No! I don't wanna go anymore! I'm not leaving!" she shouted.

Cid gave the troupe one last look before Eiko was lifted off the floor with ease by Baku, her thin arms and legs flailing. "Put me down – right now!" she demanded in her most princess-like voice which, of course, had no effect on the large man.

The boss led his three active troupe members out of the throne room and down the elevator shaft. Upon reaching the ground floor, the five of them could hear swords clanging against each other. "All right, boys, split up. We'll meet at the Prima Vista. Blank, you take the princess first. Make sure she doesn't try to run back to her parents. Cinna and Marcus will be right behind you, then me. If anyone threatens to ground our ship and I haven't made it yet, it will fly between the four of you," Baku instructed. His three men looked taken back, but saluted their leader all the same. He knew what he was doing.

Eiko was completely distraught, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You've all got to be crazy! We can't just run away from Linblum! We have to stand and fight!" she protested. Her attempt to get the ex-thieves to change their mind failed, however, and she found herself being led forward by Blank. He had taken one of her hands and started pulling her along.

The sound of weapons meeting became louder as a fight seemed to be moving towards the two of them. Blank pulled Eiko back into the shadows and covered her mouth with one of his gloved hands. The petite preteen struggled a tiny bit, but became still in the redhead's hold as an unfamiliar soldier got pretty close. The man had just pulled his now bloody sword from one of Regent Cid's men, who fell to the floor in a pool of his own blood. If Blank had not had a hand planted firmly over the princess's mouth, she surely would have screamed and unintentionally given away their hiding spot. He felt his glove becoming wet with her tears, but just pulled her closer, ready to jump out and fight if her absolutely had to.

A noise came from somewhere further down the hall, where the two of them had just come from, and the outsider ran in that direction. "We have to get to Prima Vista. We need to warn Alexandria. Lindblum doesn't have the best defenses for a siege. We need their help," Blank tried to explain to Eiko once the soldier was gone.

The indigo-haired girl could not help but to fall to her knees once again. Her teal eyes stared quietly at the bleeding Lindblum guard, tears falling silently. "I can't even help him before we go. . My flute is up in my bedroom. . . " she whispered.

Blank sighed and ran his hand through his spiky hair. "We'll make it really fast," he muttered. "Just hold on," he added before hoisting her up over one strong shoulder.

The princess had to cover her mouth with both of her hands to keep back a surprised yelp in response to the ex-thief tossing her over his arm. He quickly took off, moving the two of them down the dark parts of the corridors. Soon enough, they made it safely to her bedchambers and he set her down gently. He leaned against the nearby wall while watching the preteen scramble around the room in search of her summoner's flute.

Eiko was quick to grab her instrument, as well as a small bag full of ethers and elixirs. "Okay. We should get going, shouldn't we?" she asked softly.

Blank nodded simply. "The guys will expect us to be at the airship by now," he responded. The girl bit her lower lip guiltily and he shook his head a bit. "Don't go regretting your decision to grab your flute," he told the girl as he went to pick her up once more. "All right. Let's go."

Soon enough, they reached the long since abandoned hallway once again to find that the guard was still bleeding out. Eiko squirmed her way out of Blank's arms. She put her flute to her lips and played a quiet song, concentrating on casting a basic Cure spell. The man's body was engulfed in a warm light and his breathing could be heard in the quiet hall. "Okay. . we should go. . . " she whispered.

"Did you see that glow? There was magic used down this hall just now!" an unfamiliar voice called out before heavy footsteps could be heard coming in their direction.

"Damnit," Blank cursed under his breath. He was quick to grab Eiko's hand and tug her down the hall, away from the voices. "C'mon, Princess," he urged, knowing that they should not have stopped. Not for Eiko's flute and especially not to help the fallen man. If they were caught and something bad happened to the girl, it would be entirely his fault for letting them go off the course to the Prima Vista.

The indigo-haired preteen had a bit of trouble keeping up with the redhead man, as he was quite a bit taller than she was and therefore took longer strides. She did push herself, however, knowing that it would be bad if they were to get caught. "Wh-what do they want?" she practically choked out as she glanced over her shoulder and saw their enemies gaining on them. She looked ahead once again as they reached the airship loading dock. Baku and the rest of Tantalus were already onboard the Prima Vista, waiting on the two of them.

Blank pushed Eiko ahead of himself and picked up the pace. He could hear the soldiers advancing on them and cursed under his breath once again. "Hurry _up_, Princess," he stressed, beginning to worry that the two of them would not make it. He watched as Cinna, Marcus, and the Nero brothers began to untie the Prima Vista so they would be able to disembark the moment Eiko boarded. The airship began to rise slowly, so the young man grabbed the preteen once more. He heaved her over his shoulder a second time that day and made a leap for the deck. Being an experienced ex-thief, he had made the same feat countless times before and, just like all of the other times, he was successful. He tucked into a roll as they hit the deck, his body ending up on top of the princess as he breathed heavily.

"Next time. . We're not stopping for anything. . . "

Eiko looked up at Blank, a faint pink coloring her pale cheeks until he moved off of her. She got up as well and stumbled across the deck. Leaning over the railing a bit, she watched as the soldiers who had been after her attempted to board, just to fall back down to the dock. She looked past them, seeing Lindblum being torn apart. Fires had been set to several spots in each district, filling the late afternoon sky with smoke. Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she worried about all of the people who were suffering right then. Especially Cid and Hilda.

A quiet whimper escaped her lips as an arrow whizzed past her head, clipping off a few strands of her indigo hair, as well as the soft skin of her cheek. The side of her face stung as a little bit of blood rolled down, mixing with the tears that were already present.

Blank placed a hand on her shoulder and gently guided the princess away from the edge of the ship. "I don't know what all of that was about, but I'm pretty certain of one thing. They won't kill Regent Cid or Lady Hilda. They'll keep the two of them alive so they can get information and try to get to you. Judging from those guys that were after us, they're after your magic," he told her, turning the preteen around to face him and wiping her bleeding cheek with his thumb. He then looked to Baku and the others, knowing that he was in for a good reprimand in response to letting Eiko and himself become sidetracked.

"Are you stupid, boy? I would have expected a stunt like that from Zidane, but not you," Baku said harshly. "What were you thinking?"

Eiko become even more upset and spoke up before Blank could defend himself. "That man was dying! I couldn't just leave him there when I knew I could help. . . " she murmured, looking up at Baku with tears still in her eyes. "You all went right past him, didn't you? He was dying, but you were all too worried about your own butts to help him our anyone else!"

After that, she was quiet, saying absolutely nothing for the rest of the trip to Alexandria. She just sat down on the deck, staying out of the way, as she hugged her knees to her chest. The rest of their flight was smooth sailing. Even Baku had nothing to say in response to the princess's outburst, Blank, or any of the other members of Tantalus for that matter.

Several hours passed in complete silence before they flew over Alexandria. Once they were preparing to dock, Eiko jumped up from the spot she had refused to move from and ran over to the railing once again. "Dagger! Zidane! Hey!" she called out, her voice hoarse from crying. As soon as the Prima Vista was on the landing stage, Eiko dropped down the ladder leading off of it and threw herself at the couple, her arms reaching around both of them as tears fell freely once again and gentle sobs shook her body.

She felt Garnet wrap one arm around her in return, the other hand tightly gripping Zidane's hand. The queen gently ran her fingers over the princess's short hair and quietly asked, "Eiko. . . What is the matter?" Of course, she was much too upset to say anything in response.

A few moments passed and the indigo-haired preteen managed to lift her head, seeing the blond male and raven-haired female exchange a worried glance before Zidane then looked up to the deck Eiko had come off of only a minute ago, having a silent conversation with the Tantalus, Blank in particular. "Lindblum. . is under attack. . . " he breathed out.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: If anyone is actually reading this, please don't kill me! I know, I know – I left you with the same cliffhanger as the last chapter! But I really wanted to show what happened in Lindblum leading up to Eiko and the Tantalus crew reaching Alexandria!


	4. Chapter IV: An Important Announcement

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: November 23, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: This chapter is going to be really cute. I loved it writing it! We'll see if it has any action in it, though, hahaha.

Disclaimer: If I owned FFIX, there would definitely be several movies and spin-offs released!

.ix.

Chapter IV: An Important Announcement

Garnet had taken Eiko up to her royal bedchambers while Zidane and Steiner spoke with the men of Tantalus. Beatrix stood against the wall, watching as they young queen tried to comfort the even younger princess. Both girls were now to be watched closely since there was a high possibility that the mysterious soldiers could show up in Alexandria at any given moment as they had in Lindblum.

"Eiko, it's okay to cry," she said quietly, pressing a soft kiss to the preteen's forehead and running her fingers through the other summoner's shoulder-length indigo hair. "You must be tired. You may go to sleep if you wish," she told the girl.

Eiko shook her head some. "I can't. . They need my help, Dagger. . . " she whimpered, though it was clear that she was exhausted and needed to rest after everything that had happened so far that day.

Dagger smiled sadly and nodded understandingly. "I know what it's like to watch your kingdom fall apart before you very own eyes. It's one of the most difficult things I have ever been forced to experience. One thing I learned, though, was that I needed to be strong for my people. They were counting on me to be able to return someday and bring Alexandria back to its former glory. It took a while, but I was finally able to do so."

"How. . . do you always manage to be so strong, Dagger?"

The queen laughed softly and shook her head a little. "I've always wondered the same thing about you, dear Eiko. You're one of the strongest people I know," she said reassuringly. The raven-haired woman then began to hum softly under her breath.

"_Our paths, they did cross, though I cannot say just why._

_We met, we laughed, we held on fast, and then we said goodbye._

_And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told?_

_Let them ring out loud, 'till they unfold."_

By the end of the verse, Garnet had a sleeping Eiko in her arms. "You'll make an excellent mother one day, my Queen," Beatrix said from her spot against the wall.

Pale cheeks flushed a deep pink at the compliment. "Thank you very much, Beatrix, but I don't believe that will be happening for quite some time," she said with a shy smile.

It surprised everyone they knew that she and Zidane were still not even married yet. They certainly had known each other long enough and had been aware of their feelings for each other almost just as long. Of course, life always seemed to get in the way.

Before she could start thinking too much about it, there was a soft knock on the door. Garnet looked up and managed a small smile as her chocolate eyes met his azure pair. Her heart skipped a few beats. "How is everyone doing?" she asked quietly.

Zidane walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge by Dagger and Eiko's feet. "The guys are all fine. Blank says that whoever attacked Lindblum started to chase after him and Eiko after they saw the light from a Cure spell she had cast on a fallen Lindblum guard. They're after magic-users, for some reason," he told her. He let that sink in for a moment before fixing his love with a meaningful look and adding, "In other words, Eiko's not the only one who will be in danger if they make it to Alexandria."

Dagger sighed softly. "It won't be the first time someone is after me because of my magic, Zidane," she reminded him with what was meant to be a reassuring smile, but came off more as a slightly worried one. He placed a gloved hand on top of hers and her chocolate-colored orbs shined with tears. "Eiko's still just a child. If something were to happen to her. . ."

"We're all going to be here for her, Dagger. And you. We'll never be apart," Zidane promised, interrupting her worrying. He turned her small hand over in his larger one and kissed the back of it. "I'll stay with you forever, my beloved Dagger."

The queen removed her second hand from Eiko's hair for a moment so she could take the ex-thief's other hand, intertwining their fingers. "Zidane. . . Let's get married," she said suddenly that he wondered if he was dreaming. She took advantage of his confused silence and leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his lips and giggling. She could hear footsteps as Beatrix left her bedchambers to give them a little privacy.

The sound of her laughter, as always, was music to his ears. "Are you pulling my leg, Queen Garnet Til Alexandros XVII?" Zidane asked with a small frown.

"Of course not, Zidane Tribal. I love you very much and want to be yours forever," she told him. She watched as the blond's frown was replaced with a grin and he quickly jumped up from the bed. Chocolate eyes blinked softly. "What are you doing?" the raven-haired female breathed out, smiling as she could not help but to be amused by her love's antics. He dropped to his knee and slowly reached inside his pocket to pull out a small box, causing her eyes to widened even more than usual and fill with tears.

"Garnet. . my beloved Dagger. . . I wish I could say that I can't imagine my life without you, but we both know that it wouldn't be true. I went a whole year without you and it was by far the worst year of my life. All I could think about was when I would finally see your face again, feel your hands in mine, hear your beautiful voice. Our song is what got me through that lonely time and it has only made my love for you stronger. I never want to be away from you ever again, even if that means dressing up in itchy clothes and eating fancy meals, or running away from whatever threat is coming our way. I know I can do anything, as long as I'm doing it with you. Will you marry me?"

They were both quiet for a moment, azure eyes locked with chocolate orbs, before yet another playful grin came to Zidane's lips. "For real this time. Not just to get into Conde Petie's sanctuary," he added as he opened the box to reveal the ring that Garnet would not get a good look at until a little later.

"Jeez, it's about time you asked her, Monkey Boy," Eiko spoke up from between the two of them. She rubbed at her eyes a little before squirming out of Dagger's hold and slipping off the bed. She stepped out into the hallway with Beatrix, giving the couple complete privacy.

Zidane did not move even an inch. He remained on his knee, looking up to Garnet with a confident smile. "Well?" he asked.

Garnet's cheeks were flushed a faint pink from Eiko's little eruption, but she was still smiling with tears of happiness in her eyes. She practically jumped off the bed and threw her arms around Zidane's neck. "Of course I'll marry you, my thief!" she exclaimed before pressing her lips to his.

The blond fell backwards, laughing, as the raven-haired fell to the carpet with him. He returned the kiss, letting his arms slide down her back. The hand that did not hold the ring box brushed her bottom. "Ooh, soft~" he teased with a grin, pulling back slightly only to do so.

Garnet shook her head a little and reached around behind herself so she could take both of his hands in her own once more. "You're such a flirt," she said, though it was clear that she was amused, not upset, by him. Her attention then turned to his hand holding the ring box. "May I?" she asked shyly.

"Of course," Zidane said with a nod. He removed the ring from its box and took her left hand in his right, carefully sliding the ring on the appropriate finger.

Chocolate eyes studied the blond's face as he placed the ring on her finger. Next, she looked at the ring. It was not too extravagant, but completely beautiful. The band was a made of gold, which waved in and out and had small, circular garnets right in the middle of each segment. In the middle was a decent sized diamond. All of the gems sparkled, even in the dim lighting of her bedchambers. "Zidane, it's perfect," she breathed out. She then leaned down, still on top of him, and pressed her lips to his yet again. She could not help but to wonder how long he had been holding onto the ring, waiting for the perfect moment to propose, but decided not to ask. "We should go tell the others."

The blond grinned widely. "You mean, if Eiko hasn't already gone and told everyone," he pointed out, as they both knew that the young summoner had a pretty big mouth.

Garnet giggled softly and nodded. She then stood carefully and waited for Zidane to do the same. Once they were both up and had straightened out their clothes, she took his hand in her own and led the way out to the corridors. "Thank you for not going too far away, Beatrix. There is something I need to announce, if you don't mind sending for an audience," she said politely, curtseying slightly even though she was still in her orange jumper and not in a dress.

Beatrix, of course, had immediately noticed the ring, but said nothing of it just yet. She bowed her head. "As you wish, my Queen. You two may want to get dressed for the audience," she pointed out respectfully.

Chocolate orbs blinked a few times and Garnet looked down to her clothes, then to Zidane. "Oh, you're right. Thank you, Beatrix," the queen said softly before turning towards her bedchambers again. "I'll change first, then you can," she told Zidane before entering the room. They shared the chambers as well as the closet within them, but they never changed inside at the same time. Garnet was pretty shy about it, not ready to be naked, or in any stage of undress, around her love just yet. He, of course, respected her wishes and was willing to wait as long as he had to.

Of course, the queen had not thought about how difficult it was to get her dress on. Usually, Beatrix was there to help her do so. She stepped into the white dress easily enough, but had to hold it up against her body to keep it in place. The raven-haired female tried to grab the tie in the back with one hand, but could not even reach it, let alone tighten it with one hand. "Zidane?" she called out.

"Yeah?" the blond answered simply. He sounded like he was ready to jump to action if something was wrong.

"Can you please help me with this? I can't get the ribbon. . . " she said, sounding frustrated.

Azure eyes blinked softly and Zidane warily peeked inside the room. He saw Garnet struggling to reach behind herself and could not help but to laugh softly, which only made the queen pout some. "Here. Let me get that for you," he said with a warm smile. She stopped and stood still, her back to him. He stepped close and took the ribbons that kept the corset part of the dress tightened and tied them together so the dress would stay on her body. "There you go~" the blond said with a playful smirk.

Garnet turned around to face him, blushing faintly. "Why, thank you very much, Zidane," she said softly. She then curtseyed and grabbed her sleeves, pulling them over her arms, and crown before exiting the bedchambers so Zidane could get changed as well.

Once he was changed as well, he slipped back out into the corridor without a sound, sneaking up right behind Garnet as she looked out a window. The blond placed both hands on her hips and stepped up close to her. He gently placed a kiss to her shoulder and felt her tense slightly. "Hey, you okay? It's just me," he reassured her with a smile.

Dagger turned to face Zidane and returned the smile. "I'm fine, Zidane. Let's go meet up with the others, then head out to the balcony," she said, taking his hand in her own and beginning to lead the way once again.

Soon enough, Garnet found herself out on the same balcony she had watched "I Want To Be Your Canary" from twice in her life. Behind her stood some of the most significant people in her life – Steiner, Beatrix, Eiko, even the Tantalus and Ruby, who had come to the castle upon seeing the Prima Vista fly over the kingdom of Alexandria. In front of her, down below the balcony, were all of the people of her kingdom. Next to her stood Zidane, whose hand she had a tight grip on. Everyone was waiting for her to speak.

"My beloved people of Alexandria, I have good news and I have bad news," she called out, her voice ringing high over the silent crowds surrounding her. "As for the bad news, our partner country Lindblum has been under attack. The Tantalus troupe was sent here with Princess Eiko to request aid in what may become a war. In order to avoid the dilemma spreading to our kingdom, I plan to send a troop of our best soldiers to Lindblum to assist with the defense and revival of Lindblum. We will have plenty of troops remaining here as well, in case it is too late for even us. The security will be increased and I beg of all of you to please be careful. Always travel together, no matter how short a distance you plan to trek. Lock up your houses at night and whenever you go out for the day. I do not wish for anyone to come to harm and will do whatever it takes to keep another disaster from befalling our country."

There was a long stillness as the audience began to quietly speak amongst themselves. They had already been destroyed once by Kuja's attack barely five years ago. They could only begin to imagine what was happening in the high-tech city of Lindblum. Before the conversations could get too far out of hand, Garnet cleared her throat. "I promised you all good news too," she reminded them, bringing their attention back up to the balcony. "Zidane and I are to be married, as soon as possible," she said, giving the blond's hand a loving squeeze. They had not yet talked about a date for the wedding, but she knew that he was the one patiently waiting for her to be comfortable with the idea of their relationship growing and she did not want to keep him waiting much longer, especially with the threat of a new enemy lingering in the air. "I can only hope that you all come to see him as someone you can openly speak to, just as I can. We are both here to help out in any way we can."

The good news, fortunately, seemed to outweigh the bad, at least for the time being. Excited talk of a wedding ceremony and celebration could be heard all the way up on the balcony. Garnet took in a deep breath and turned to face Zidane, her pale skin flushed a light pink as she wrapped her arms around his body and pulled herself close. "Everyone still seems happy. Thank goodness," she whispered.

Zidane smiled softly and ran his hand over the back of Garnet's head. He then leaned down slightly and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Happy Birthday, Dagger," he murmured.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: Yeah, so no action in this chapter, but I kind of figured it would be better this way since the last chapter was almost all action. Gotta spread it all out! Hope whoever reads this enjoys! I know I had a lot of fun writing all of the ZidanexDagger moments! 3


	5. Chapter V: Preparations

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: November 29, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: Two updates in less than a week! AND I've reached chapter fice of a fanfic! What? Even though I've only had one person reading this as far as I know, I'm really on a roll with it! If there are other people, I would love to hear from y'all as well! Please review!

Disclaimer: Nope. . . still don't own it after six days. :(

.ix.

Chapter V: Preparations

It was the perfect day for a wedding. The entire kingdom of Alexandria as gathered to see Garnet and Zidane finally get married. The townspeople were all gathering in the courtyard where their queen had watched the Tantalus's performance of "I Want To Be Your Canary" twice to date. Everyone's attention was turned to the balcony, much like it had when Zidane had revealed himself towards the end of the second performance and Garnet had done everything she could to get down from there.

_At the moment, Zidane was on the balcony along with Blank, who of course was his best man, the rest of Tantalus, Steiner, and the priest. Garnet was still inside the castle, going through some finishing touches with the help of Beatrix, Eiko, and Ruby._

"_Dagger, you look so beautiful!" Eiko squealed happily before checking herself out in the mirror. She wore a colorful dress and had flowers in her hair, as well as in the basket she would carry. Some people would think that she was too old to be the flower girl, but she was more than happy to hold the title._

_The queen turned to looked at the princess and smiled softly. "Thank you, Eiko. You do, too. You're growing up to be a beautiful young woman."_

_She then looked at herself in the mirror for a moment and took a deep breath, nervousness beginning to take over. "I wish Uncle Cid and Aunt Hilda could be here for this. . I wish we knew they were safe. . . " she said quietly._

_Eiko nodded a little, more than understanding of Garnet's wish. She missed her adoptive parents and regretted being so eager to leave Lindblum before she had known of the attack. "It'll be okay. You can always have another wedding celebration once this is all over with!" the indigo-haired preteen said encouragingly, not wanting the raven-haired woman to start regretting her choice of having the wedding during such a serious time. _

_Garnet nodded. "You're right, Eiko," she said with a small smile. She then adjusted the jeweled headpiece in her hair and let out a content sigh as music began to drift through the castle. "Oh! It's time," she said nervously._

_Eiko grinned widely and ran to the door "C'mon! Let's go!" she called excitedly, bouncing around energetically._

_For a split second, the bride-to-be had a bad feeling. Unfortunately, it was too late to react to it. She watched with wide chocolate orbs as the teal-eyed girl pushed open the door to be grabbed up by a guard she had never seen before. She stumbled forwards a few steps in attempt to help, but the man began to chant about ancient powers being unleashed. Garnet froze in place, watching as the young summoner's body went completely limp in the man's hold, her skin deathly pale._

.ix.

Garnet shot up in bed, screaming, as she was tore from her nightmare in a cold sweat. Zidane, of course, was up right with her, gently running his fingers through her long raven hair and taking a few punches to the chest as she struggled against the last lingering moments of the dream. Ever since Eiko and the Tantalus had arrived in Alexandria to warn them of the attack on Lindblum, the queen had not been able to sleep properly. It had already been a week during which, fortunately, Alexandria had not been attacked. Of course, security had increased immensely.

That explained why, just like the six nights before, both Steiner and Beatrix came rushing inside Garnet's bedchambers at the sound of her screams. They had offered to take the duty of guarding their queen's chambers together where they used to take turn watching every other night while the other slept.

"Eiko! Where's Eiko?" Dagger cried, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

A quiet moment or two passed before the purple-haired preteen stepped into the already occupied room with Blank and Marcus right behind her. She had tears in the corners of her teal eyes as well and looked as if she had barely slept. "I'm right here, Dagger," she said, her voice hoarse, like she had been screaming as well. Garnet patted the bed gently and the younger summoner climbed up to join her and Zidane. She was immediately pulled into a tight hug, which she returned as her petite body shook.

The raven-haired female ran her fingers through shoulder-length indigo hair, her chocolate orbs wandering around the room for a moment before they met a pair of worried azure eyes. She could not bring herself to tell her love that this particular nightmare had revolved around their wedding. She knew that the blond would be devastated if he knew that she had the briefest thought of postponing it, despite her own words of wanting it to be sooner rather than later. The beginning of a war was just not feeling like a good time to have a wedding.

Zidane, of course, had a slight idea about the thoughts going through his beloved Dagger's mind. He kept an arm wrapped around her, but did not ask about the nightmare. He knew better than to force her to relive it. Once each night for the last week was certainly enough. Instead, he just looked around the crowded room. "Blank, Marcus, you guys should go to sleep where Cinna and the Boss are staying. Eiko can stay in here with us for the rest of the night," he told his brothers, wanting to take a little bit of responsibility from his friends if he could. He wished he could tell Steiner and Beatrix to take it easy as well, but knew that it would be asking for trouble if nobody stood guard outside of Garnet's bedchambers. He had offered to guard the doors himself several times already, but his love always said that she felt safest when he was by her side and begged him to stay.

The blond pushed back a few strands of long raven hair and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. Chocolate orbs were already fluttering closed as both Dagger and Eiko calmed down from their nightmares. Azure eyes wandered up to meet with Steiner and Beatrix's tired, yet protective gazes. "Thanks for checking on us," he said quietly with a forced smile. "We should be fine now."

Both Beatrix and Steiner saluted, causing Zidane to make a face. "Aw, c'mon, guys. There's no need for that. Even you, Rusty?" he asked with a frown.

Steiner nodded simply. "Of course. Scoundrel or not, you are marrying Garnet. That makes you our king," he pointed out before following Beatrix back out into the corridors without another word.

A soft sigh escaped the genome's lips. "Me, king. . right. . . " he muttered. Zidane then pulled Dagger closer to himself. 'At least I have the best queen,' he thought to himself with a tiny smile before he, too, began to doze off.

.ix.

Several more hours passed by peacefully before Zidane slowly woke up to Eiko jumping up and down on the bed. "Dagger, Zidane! Wake up! Zidane, you have to get outta here! Today's the day!" the preteen exclaimed happily. Of course she was excited. Whenever she was not asleep, or having just woken up from a nightmare, the girl pretended like nothing was wrong and returned to her normal bundle of energy. Today, that would go double.

"Get up already!" she exclaimed, landing right on top of Zidane's tail that time.

The blond shot up in bed, flinching painfully. "Ow! What's going on?" he asked with a frown as he tried to comprehend what Eiko was talking about.

"You're not supposed to see Dagger until you two are getting married later today! It's supposed to be bad luck or something if you do," the indigo-haired girl explained.

Zidane sighed softly and sat up slowly. Eiko moved across the bed so he could work on getting out of it. He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Garnet's cheek, figuring it was already too late for bad luck. "Guess I'll see you later," he told her softly.

Chocolate orbs blinked a few times and Garnet slowly sat up in her bed. Her nightmare from the previous night came back and her heart began to race. "Please be careful, Zidane," she said quietly.

The genome simply grinned widely, his tail swaying a bit as it seemed to fix itself from being jumped on. "I'm always careful," he said with a laugh. "Besides, I'm marrying you. There's nothing dangerous about that," he added, smiling reassuringly. He winked an azure eye. "See you out there."

As he headed for the door, Garnet climbed out of bed and quickly stepped across her bedchambers. She wrapped both arms around him from behind and buried her face against his back. "I love you, Zidane," she murmured, breathing in his scent.

Azure eyes blinked softly and a smile came to the blond's lips. "I love you, too, Dagger," he said softly. Then, before Eiko could scold him any more, he turned around to face Garnet and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. She returned the affectionate gesture and he left the room for good that time.

Garnet slowly turned to face Eiko, her face paler than usual. "You've been having terrible nightmares, too, haven't you, Eiko?" she asked quietly.

The younger summoner shifted a little, her teal gaze falling to the floor as she looked guilty for trying to hide it. "Yeah, but. . We shouldn't think about that today. . . It's your wedding day, Dagger. It's going to be perfect," she said with a sweet smile.

The raven-haired queen stared at the indigo-haired princess for a few quiet moments. "You've grown up so much, Eiko," she said softly, returning the smile. "Thank you so much."

Beatrix smiled at the two young women as she came into the bedchambers. "Shall we head to the washrooms? Ruby has arrived from her mini-theater," she told Garnet.

Chocolate orbs blinked softly at Beatrix's words. "Oh, yes, let's go," she said before looking down at Eiko once again. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.

The younger girl grinned widely. "Of course I am!" That said, she ran across the room and squeezed pass Garnet and Beatrix so she could lead the way down the corridors. It had been some time since she had last been to the castle in Alexandria, but the last week proved that she still remembered it perfectly as she could easily navigate its passageways.

Garnet could not help but to giggle softly. "You would think that she's the one getting married," she commented to Beatrix in an amused tone. Even the knight smiled at the princess's energy. "Oh! I can't believe that I haven't thanked you all week, Beatrix!" she exclaimed suddenly.

Red-violet eyes blinked a few times, though only one was visible. "Thank me for what, my queen?" Beatrix asked, genuinely confused.

"For encouraging me, of course. If you hadn't told that I would make a good mother the other day, I wouldn't have started to think about starting a family with Zidane. I was afraid it wasn't the right time to be thinking of such trivial matters, but you convinced me otherwise. He was going to propose some time, regardless, but I also know that he was going to wait until I showed him that I was ready. So, thank you so much, Beatrix."

Beatrix was about to speak when the young queen continued, a little more quickly as if she was nervous, "I think you should tell Steiner about your feelings for him. I am certain that he is the only one who is not aware of them. And I also know for a fact that he returns those feelings. He has always admired you, Beatrix, even while you were with Mother and he was with me," she finished, her pale cheeks flushed a faint pink which, surprisingly, was matched by her knight's cheeks at the moment.

The older woman was left out in the hall in a state of slight shock once they reached the washrooms as the queen had run inside, feeling like she had stuck her nose in somewhere it did not necessarily belong. Beatrix stood there a little longer, thinking over what Garnet had just said to her. Several minutes passed and she shook her head gently before stepping inside the room to find that the raven-haired bride-to-be was already out of the shower and Ruby was working on her hair and make-up as she held a towel around her etite body.

"I ain't putting too much on ya 'cuz yer already so beautiful on yer own, sweetheart," the actress told the queen.

Garnet smiled softly. "Thank you very much, Ruby," she said, blushing faintly. "And thanks again for coming today. I know Zidane appreciates it, too."

"Not a problem, darlin'! I wouldn't miss it for anything! I remember when Zidane first joined the rest of them boys! Thought he would never stop being such a flirt! And now he's settlin' down! Imagine that!"

"_Oh, no. You see. . . I just thought you were the one I'd been waiting for all this time."_

Pale cheeks became rosy once more as her first memory of Zidane came to her thoughts. It had taken place right outside, in the upper corridors of the castle. She had exited her bedchambers and was attempting to sneak out of the castle. He was disguised in armor, so she had thought he was one of Steiner's Knights of Pluto, even though she did not recognize his face. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she remembered how he had flirted with her, though she had not realized what he was doing at the time.

"Dagger? What's so funny?" Eiko asked as she got out of the shower and started drying off.

Chocolate orbs blinked a few times as the raven-haired female was pulled back to reality. "Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about when I first met Zidane. He flirted with me right away, though I was too naïve at the time to know what he was really talking about. But he's changed a lot since we met and I have, too. I just can't imagine where I would be now if we had never met to begin with," she said with a content sigh.

Eiko grinned widely. "I know what you mean. If you guys had never found me, I'd probably still be stuck in Madain Sari with all those Moogles," she said, making a face. "It'd be so boring."

Garnet smiled softly. "Well, I'm glad we found you, too, Eiko. You're like a sister to me."

The preteen's smile grew more. She was about to agree when she finally dried off and got a better look at the bride as Ruby began to help her into the dress. "Dagger, you look so beautiful!" she squealed happily.

Garnet inhaled sharply at Eiko's words. That was exactly how her dream had begun. "Th-thank you, Eiko. . " she managed. The younger summoner was too busy looking at her own dress in the mirror, however, to notice that something was bothering Dagger once again. Of course, Beatrix was right by the queen's side in a moment. "I'm fine. . ." she breathed out, not wanting the other females to scold her for being scared.

Ruby took Garnet's nervousness the wrong way, not knowing about the nightmare. "Don'tcha worry, sweetheart. Zidane's gonna love seeing ya like this! An' he's gonna be dressed up, too. It'll be perfect~" the actress said as she put the last touch on, Garnet's hair piece.

The queen was wearing the same dress she had worn to the Tantalus's last performance because she had wanted to focus more on the ceremony being about her love for Zidane and not how they looked. She would have been happy wearing her travel jumper, but knew that the people of Alexandria would frown upon that for certain. "Thanks again, Ruby. I'm sure you're right."

"Of course I am! Now, are ya positive ya don't want me ta make any additions to this dress?" the gray-haired woman asked.

Garnet smiled softly and shook her head a tiny bit. "No thank you. It's perfect."

"All righty! Yer good ta go, then!" Ruby exclaimed as she stepped back to get a better look at Garnet.

"I'm ready, too!" Eiko said before running over to Dagger and giving her a loving squeeze. "It's almost time!"

The raven-haired female smiled nervously, then finally looked up to Beatrix after avoiding eye contact with her for the longest time. "Is everyone else ready?" she asked.

"I shall go check," the knight said as she turned towards the door, just as there was a knock from the other side. A frown graced her features before she opened the door slightly, then fully to reveal Steiner.

"Queen Garnet, may I speak with you for a moment?" he asked, shifting slightly in his lighter, polished armor.

Chocolate orbs blinked softly and the queen nodded, standing gracefully from the stool she had been sitting on. "Of course, Steiner. Is everything all right?" she asked, trying not to sound worried. The captain nodded and Garnet turned to face Beatrix once more. "Would you please bring Eiko and Ruby to the balcony once they've finished? I imagine we'll be starting soon," she said.

Beatrix saluted. "Of course, my queen. We shall be there soon."

The raven-haired bride smiled gratefully and curtseyed, then turned back to Steiner. He held his arm out to her and she gently took it, blushing faintly. "What would you liked to talk about?" she asked curiously once they were walking down the corridor.

The man became a bit flustered, as he usually did. "Well, I was thinking about how your uncle unfortunately could not be here today. . I was wondering if. . that is. . You have been my charge for almost as long as I can remember. . . " he stammered, unable to finish a complete thought, much less ask an actual question.

Dagger could not help but to giggle softly, even though her heart had dropped a little at the brief mention of Cid. "Adelbert Steiner, I would love for you to walk me down the aisle," she told him with a soft smile, having realized what he was trying to ask of her. Chocolate orbs then blinked a few times. "I suppose we should turn around now, though. We've been heading in the wrong direction all this time," she pointed out.

Steiner's face went blank for a moment. "Oh, my apologies, Queen Garnet! Let us get to your wedding," the knight said, his face a bright red out of embarrassment.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: So, yeah, another non-action chapter. Well, I mean, there was a very quick bit during Dagger's dream, but yeah, that doesn't count. This chapter was actually supposed to be the entire wedding day, but I realized that it was getting to be pretty long, at least compared to the rest of my chapters so far! I decided to stop here. The next chapter will be a direct continuation, since I cut it off right before the wedding started! And I promise, THERE WILL BE ACTION IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! Please review!


	6. Chapter VI: An Emotional Wedding

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: December 2, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: I am so proud of myself! This is by far the furthest I have ever gotten with a fanfiction that I've written. And I had a new reviewer last night! Thank you, Guest, and I hope you keep up with this story! I also hope that my few followers are enjoying reading this as much as am enjoying writing it. If y'all don't mind, a review for feedback would be much appreciated!

On a different note, something I meant to mention a long time ago, you guys should read zestychicken2's Filling In The Blanks! I'm only on chapter 38 out of 87, but it's such an amazing FFIX fanfic!

Disclaimer: If I owned FFIX, I would definitely get poor Vivi a better representation in Kingdom Hearts than he did in KHII. :(

.ix.

Chapter VI: An Emotional Wedding

Zidane stood up on the balcony with Blank, the rest of the Tantalus guys, and the priest. He was tying his best, but could not help but to pull at the tight, itchy collar of his formal clothes. The only things worse than the outfit, however, were the nerves that were coming from seemingly nowhere. The blond was beginning to sweat, even though it was a beautiful, cool day out. The courtyard and rooftops of Alexandria were full of so many people, and still more coming. Did the entire kingdom seriously plan on showing up to his and Dagger's wedding?

"Bro, are you okay?" Blank asked calmly from his spot next to the blond. "You never get stage fright," the redhead could not help but to tease, a mischievous smirk coming to his lips. He had never once seen the other ex-thief panic like he was starting to right then. The genome had been a natural when it came to acting and steal. Nothing had ever worried him when he was in front of hundreds of other people.

Azure eyes widened for just a moment, before narrowing dangerously in Blank's direction. "Shut. . _up_, Blank. . . " he breathed out in warning. Of course, the strange new sensation did not subside like he had hoped it would. "You don't think Dagger's going to call it off, do you?" Zidane finally asked, his question barely audible and easily lost amongst the hoots of the rest of the Tantalus troupe as they cracked up at their youngest member's expense. "I really hate all of you," he muttered under his breath.

His annoyance did not last long, though, as the doors leading out to the balcony opened and his heart skipped a few beats. Of course, only Eiko, Ruby, and Beatrix came out, causing his heart to sink again. He desperately hoped that they were not coming to announce that Garnet at run off when Eiko ran over and hugged him tightly, tossing flowers from her basket as she moved a little too quickly.

"Steiner wanted to talk to Dagger about something. They should be out here soon!" she told him with a reassuring smile.

Azure eyes blinked a few times at the indigo-haired girl's words. What would Rusty want to talk to Dagger about right before the wedding? Had something happened? Zidane looked over to Beatrix, but the woman did not seem concerned in the least. "Maybe I should go make sure they're o-"

The blond was cut off as the doors opened once again and the music immediately picked up as Garnet stood there with her hands placed delicately on Steiner's arm. He felt his heart stop beating all together for a good moment before it began to work double-time. Azure eyes met with chocolate orbs and locked with them while they slowly got closer. At the moment, they both felt as if they were the only two people in the world.

Garnet reached the end of the balcony and the audience began to clap for her, causing a soft pink to color her pale cheeks. She looked out to the crowds and waved a tiny bit. She faced Steiner and curtseyed politely once she released the knight's arm. As she turned to Zidane once more, her chocolate orbs watered tearfully.

The blond smiled comfortingly, his azure eyes shining with excitement now that he was over the stage of anxiousness. "You look amazing, like always," he told her.

Her entire face lit up at his words. "And you look so handsome," she complimented, watching as a mischievous glint sparked in her beloved ex-thief's breathtaking eyes. Zidane bowed low, his tail swaying slightly as it did whenever he was extremely content. She returned the gesture with a curtsey before they both turned to the priest.

"People of Alexandria, we are gathered her today to witness one of life's greatest moments for our beloved queen. Six years ago, fate worked its magic and introduced our young Princess Garnet to Zidane Tribal. He showed her the world during one of the most difficult stages of her life and they fell in love with one another. Today, they will take the next step towards happiness by being joined in holy matrimony. If anyone has a reason they should not wed, speak now our forever hold your peace."

Zidane held his breath. He was relieved that the man had just briefly mentioned him and Dagger meeting, leaving out the fact that he had been a thief sent to kidnap the princess. He glanced out to the audience, knowing that there were still people who did not approve of him being so close to Garnet. Thankfully, nobody said anything.

The priest first turned to face the groom. "Zidane Tribal, do you take Garnet Til Alexandros XVII to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, protect and share her responsibilities by becoming or king for as long as you both shall live?"

Azure eyes did not once break contact with chocolate orbs. A grin came to Zidane's lips once the man finished asking his questions, even though he was still not used to the idea that all of this would make him king. "I do," he said, speaking so clearly. It may have been two simple words, but everyone present could feel all of his passion for Dagger put into them.

The priest then turned to face the bride. "Queen Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, do you take Zidane Tribal to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, protect, and share your responsibilities as he becomes our king for as long as you both shall live?"

Garnet felt her heart fluttering with each word spoken. She kept her orbs locked with Zidane's, then nodded fervently. "I do!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing yet again as she realized how eager she was being.

They exchanged rings, though they were both a little too happy and excited to remember all of the words the priest said. "By the powers vest in me, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Zidane, of course, did not need any encouragement. He wrapped his arms around Dagger's waist and pulled her close so he could press his lips to hers. He could just barely hear his Tantalus brothers and Eiko cheering loudly as he was still focused on Garnet. He felt her shudder against his hold and realized that she was crying. "Hey. . it's okay, Dagger. . . " he murmured against her lips, reaching up and gently wiping her tears with his gloved thumbs.

Long raven hair flew as Garnet nodded once again, her hands gently holding onto both of his arms. "I-I know. . I just. . . am so happy," she whispered.

The blond grinned and pressed his lips to her cheek that time. "I am, too. I love you, my _wife_," he said, that mischievous glint in his azure eyes once again.

That time, it caused the queen to blush faintly. "I love you, too, my _king_," she teased softly, giggling some when he scrunched his nose up quite a bit when she stressed his new title. She smiled a bit more and carefully draped both of her arms over his shoulders and pulled the blond down into another loving kiss, gaining more cheers from their friends and the audience.

"Well, isn't this just sweet? When's the honeymoon?"

Garnet felt her heart stop at the mocking voice. Her wide chocolate orbs wandered over to the doorway that led to the balcony. A man stood there, flanked by guards on both sides. He had flaming red hair that stuck out from behind the metal mask he wore over the upper half of his face. He had four arms, he hands of which each held a different type of sword.

Zidane gently set Dagger back on the ground and stepped in front of her. "Gilgamesh. . . you're the one behind the attack on Linblum?!" he asked angrily. "What the hell do you want?"

"No need to be so angry, King Zidane. I'm just freeing the world of magic-users. In case you don't remember, the last large-scale war was led by Kuja and his dark magic. The only thing I'd say is even more dangerous are the Eidolons," Gilgamesh said with a smirk.

Azure eyes flicked over to Eiko and the blond felt slightly relieved to see that Blank had stepped forward to protect her in the same way he had for Garnet. The princess looked furious, but could not do anything as Cinna, Marcus, and even Baku stepped around her to keep her from moving.

"That's ridiculous! Eidolons aren't dangerous as long as their summoners know how to use them for good. You're so full of it," Zidane spat back.

"There are plenty of people who are still devastated after the destruction of Alexandria years ago. I'm sure they would rather live peacefully in a world with no Eidolons and magic, so it cannot be repeated."

The blond saw a few guards advancing without an order, though they were immediately met by Steiner and Beatrix. Both knights turned to face him for a split second. "Protect our queen!" they told him in unison before easily taking out the first fleet of guards.

"No!" Garnet screamed, her chocolate orbs shining with tears as she feared what would happen to the two as they were clearly outnumbered when more men kept coming. Not even the two strongest officers of Alexandria could fight forever.

Zidane turned to face Dagger and picked her up with ease. "We have to get out of here," he muttered, watching as the men of Tantalus were already jumping over the rail of the balcony, Baku carrying a screaming Eiko. Azure eyes cast one last glance back to Steiner and Beatrix, hating himself for the fact that he was about to leave them to fight who knows how many of Gilgamesh's men. The blond moved the small distance to the edge of the balcony and pulled a sturdy rope banner off its hook. He then jumped over the railing, holding on tight to Dagger as they swung down to the courtyard. He ran, weaving in and out of the crowds, both of his arms under her body to keep her off the ground since he knew she would try to go back the moment he put her down. He did not stop until he reached the Prima Vista and ran up the ramp leading onboard, which had been set down by Cinna while the Tantalus had boarded.

"We checked everywhere – nobody else is on board," the other member told the blond as he and Marcus pulled the ramp back up and began to untie the airship from the dock.

"Good. We have to get far away from Alexandria and figure out things as we go," the genome said. As the airship began to rise, he carefully set Garnet down on her feet. "I'm really sorry, Dagger," he said softly.

When she looked up at him, her normally warm and loving eyes were distant and overflowing with tears. She stared at him for a few silent minutes. Her hand rose like she was going to hit him out of frustration, but she let it fall back down to her side. "We shouldn't have left them, Zidane. . " she whispered, clenching her delicate hands into small fists. She then looked around the deck at the others. "Not even Ruby made it out with us. . . "

Azure eyes widened at Garnet's words, following her gaze around the deck. "Shit. . . " the blond murmured.

"Rube can handle herself," Blank spoke up. "And if that Gilgamesh guy is trying to get more followers, he won't keep attacking countries like he did Lindblum. All we can do is hope that since we're obviously not there any more, he'll leave the people of Alexandria alone and try to figure out where we're going instead," the redhead said.

Eiko walked across the deck and reached out, gently taking a hold of one of Dagger's hands. She was just as mad about the men sneaking them out of the kingdom and leaving a bunch of people behind, but she could not help but to hope that what Blank said would be true. "So, where are we going?" she asked with a frown.

Zidane thought about it. They needed to go somewhere were they could recuperate and come up with a plan. Somewhere Gilgamesh would not know about. "Madain Sari. If we can get off the Mist Continent and make it there, that should give us some time to work out what we need to do in case we run into Gilgamesh again," he said.

Eiko listened quietly, then looked up to Garnet, who had not spoken since they realized that Ruby was still in Alexandria and still looked really upset. "We're going home. . . " the indigo-haired preteen whispered.

Blank nodded softly, seeing sense in Zidane's plan. "It should be the safest place until we can figure out how we can help the people we had to leave behind," he said before looking over the two females. "And it might be a good idea, while we're there, to teach you two how to fight."

Garnet stared at Blank in disbelief for suggesting such a thing, then finally looked to Zidane once more. She could tell right away, though, that the blond thought that Blank's idea was a good one. "I can't believe you guys. The Tantalus I knew would have never run away from a fight," she said simply, pretty callously. "Come on, Eiko." With that, the queen led the princess down the stairs leading into the Prima Vista, leaving her newlywed husband and his band of brothers to think about the severity of what they had all just done.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: Okay, so that wasn't as much action as I thought it would be, but there was still _some_ action! Please tell me what you think in a review! Constructive criticism is even welcome!


	7. Chapter VII: Running Away

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: December 12, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: I don't know what I am loving more, the fact that I am getting so into this fanfiction, or the fact that my one regular reviewer is so amazing! Thanks again, zesty for all the review! To anyone who is enjoying this fic so far, you should also read zestychicken2's Filling In The Blanks! You won't be disappointed!

Disclaimer: Guess what? Yeah, still don't own it. :(

.ix.

Chapter VII: Running Away

Eiko had fallen asleep quite some time ago, but Garnet was still wide awake, sitting up in the bed she and the young princess occupied and staring silently out a window. She ran her fingers through the preteen's shoulder-length indigo hair, which had calmed both of them down from the upset state unwillingly escaping Alexandria had put them in. She still worried, though, about what would happen to all of the people they had left behind.

A soft knock on the doorframe drew her attention away from the window and her thoughts. "Can I come in?" Zidane asked, looking pretty miserable. Seeing him like that broke Garnet's heart, no matter how mad she had been with him. "Dagger, I know what we did was wrong, but you have to forgive me," he said when she did not answer right away. "I don't know what I'd do if you never talk to me again," he admitted.

The raven-haired female got up from the bed, carefully laying Eiko down and covering the girl with the blankets. "Zidane, we vowed to love each other, no matter what, until death parts us," she said softly as she walked across the small room. "Just because I don't agree with something you've done doesn't mean I'm not ever going to talk to you again. We've disagreed plenty of times before, but we always seem to get through it," she pointed out as she gently placed her hands on his shoulders. Chocolate orbs stared into azure eyes for a moment or two. "Besides, I know you were acting on your own promise to protect me. I'm sorry I got so mad," she said softly.

The blond shook his head quite a bit. "You don't have to apologize. You had the right to be mad," he told her. He then looked around the dark room and sighed softly. "So much for a happy wedding, huh?"

Dagger moved both of her hands down from his shoulders and down to her own hips, a pout coming to her lips. "Zidane Tribal, we had a happy wedding. Just because Gilgamesh interrupted doesn't make it any less happy. I still stand by everything I told you back in Alexandria. I love you and I'm so happy to be your bride," she said before leaning in and gently pressing her lips to his lovingly.

Zidane carefully slipped his arms around Garnet's slim body, pulling her closer and returning the kiss. Then, catching her completely off guard, he pulled her legs out from underneath her and lifted her bridal-style. She covered her mouth with one hand to muffle a surprised cry that would surely wake Eiko up while her other hand grabbed Zidane's shoulder. "Let's go to our own room," he said with a mischievous smirk as he began to carry her out of the room.

Garnet's pale cheeks flushed a rosy pink that could be seen despite the dim lighting inside the airship. "And why should we do that?" she asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of her song-like voice.

The blond pecked her cheek. "Because we're newlyweds," he said playfully, watching Dagger's face flush even brighter. "I'm kidding. I just thought it would be more comfortable than trying to squeeze both of us and Eiko in that tiny bed," he said with a smile.

The raven-haired female returned the smile and pulled herself close, gently pressing her lips to his a second time. "They both sound like legitimate reasons," she said with a soft giggle.

The genome grinned, his tail swaying as he set his wife on the bed. "I'm going to get changed, since you've already gotten out of your wedding dress," he said as he moved away from the bed and headed over to the closet that was big enough for him to change in.

When he came out, a smile played on his lips yet again. "Hey, so I know this isn't a very romantic wedding gift, but I do have something I want to give you," he told her as he strode back across the room to the bedside.

Chocolate orbs blinked a few times. "Zidane, you didn't have to get me anything. . . " she protested. She looked down guiltily since anything she had wanted to give him would be back in the castle.

"I didn't really _get _it," Zidane said. A slight frown came to her lips and he quickly realized what she was thinking. "I didn't _steal_ it either, Dagger!" he exclaimed in mock hurt. "I've had it for as long as I can remember. I guess it's a re-gifting sort of thing." The blond then got down on one knee in front of her, smiling up at his wife.

He reached down and carefully brought up a small dagger she had never seen before. She tilted her head slightly to the side, her raven-colored hair cascading down her arm. "What-?"

"This was my first dagger. Blank found it with me when he took me to Baku and the rest of Tantalus when we were kids. I never had to use it and hope that you won't have to either, but I'd feel a whole lot safer if I knew you had it on you with how things are now," he admitted.

Chocolate orbs widened more so than usual. Garnet could not imagine being in a position where she would be so close to an enemy during a confrontation that she would be able to defend herself with the small knife. She was used to casting her white magic and shooting the occasional attack from one of her rackets from afar. Of course, neither would be an option now, since her rods and rackets had been left behind in Alexandria and even the smallest spell cast with the wrong audience would be targeted immediately. Eiko had been lucky to be keeping her flute hidden in her flower girl dress, having refused to be separated from it since the attack on Lindblum, but even she did not want to risk casting any spells.

A soft sigh escaped the queen's lips. "Zidane, I don't think I could ever. . . " she began, then shook her head a little. "I get scared even when I see you having to get so close to an enemy to strike them with one of your daggers," she admitted honestly. The only times she had even held a dagger were when she was deciding on her nickname and using one of his to chop her long hair off.

Zidane smiled softly. "I guess that means I'll just have to stay close to you and keep protecting you," he said simply.

Chocolate orbs shined a bit when he said that. She then leaned down and gently kissed him on the cheek. "I wouldn't want you to be anywhere besides with me," she whispered happily. She then kissed his lips again. "Thank you for getting us out of there safely, Zidane."

The blond smiled softly and began to run his fingers through her raven locks as she laid her forehead against his. "I promised to always keep you safe, didn't I?" he asked.

A barely registered sound of agreement left her lips before he realized that Garnet was beginning to fall asleep while sitting up. He stood carefully, wrapping his arms around her so he could help her get a little more comfortable. He then kissed the top of her head. "Sweet dreams, my beloved Dagger," he whispered with a loving smile.

.ix.

Zidane woke up a few hours later to a pretty rough shake of the Prima Vista, one that he immediately knew was not any sort of landing. Dagger shot up in the bed, holding on tightly to his arms as she was scared out of her for once peaceful sleep.

Eiko came running into their room, her flute gripped tightly in both hands. "What the heck was that?!" she exclaimed, falling to her knees as another tremor shook the airship.

The queen got out of bed and quickly moved to the princess's side. "We need to go make sure the Tantalus guys are okay," she said softly, trying to stay calm.

The genome got up as well and took both of his daggers off the nightstand, sheathing them in place, then grabbing small one he had gifted Garnet the previous night. He walked over to the two young women, carefully placing the old blade in his wife's hand. "You two stay behind me," he said quietly. He then lead the way, followed by Eiko, and finally Dagger.

Once they were heading down the hall, light footsteps could barely be heard running in their direction, unless you were purposely listening for them, which Zidane of course was. He stopped and carefully guided Garnet and Eiko back against the wall, hiding in the shadows just to be safe. Of course, he saw Blank round the corner soon enough, just as he was expecting, and grabbed him before the redhead could run by. "What the hell is going on, Blank?!" he demanded.

"Apparently we've been followed. Cinna was falling asleep on lookout and didn't notice that we were being tailed," he growled, more annoyed than angry.

The ship shook again, but that time it had followed the sound of a cannon being shot. "What's the plan? Surely you guys have already talked about one in case we were attacked again!" Dagger said hopefully.

Blank looked at Zidane, who nodded in agreement with the silent exchange. "We're going to split up. We shouldn't be too far from Madain Sari now. There's no way the Prima Vista is going to make it, though, so we're gonna have to crash it. The guys are going to hide with Eiko and you and I are going to book it for Conde Petie to lead them away," the blond explained as he looked back to Garnet. "We'll hide out there until we're positive that the coast is clear and then meet up in Madain Sari."

"Leave it to us to try and contact the others while you two are on the run. We'll send coded letters to Regent Cid in Lindblum and Steiner and Beatrix in Alexandria. Hopefully we'll get some sort of response by the time you two catch up," Blank said. "Now, Marcus is trying to make the crash as soft as he can so we don't actually get hurt. We need to get up on the deck so we'll be ready to get off."

Garnet looked from Blank, down to Eiko. "Please be careful," she said, directing her wish to both the princess and the redhead ex-thief. She gave the preteen a gentle hug before letting her go to Blank's side. She then took Zidane's hand and watched as Blank began to lead Eiko up out of the airship. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Zidane?" she asked quietly.

The blond looked at her and managed a crooked smile. "It's all we've got, Dagger. We can't lead them to Madain Sari or there won't be anywhere safe for us to recover and prepare to take back the kingdom. Blank and Marcus will be sure to cover all five of their tracks. And if they do run into trouble, they'll double back to lead Gilgamesh's men away until they know it's safe to keep going. We have to trust that it's going to work out," he told her.

The raven-haired female sighed softly. "What about us? How long will we stay in Conde Petie before we can rejoin them?" she asked as she followed the blond upstairs. "How will we manage to lose Gilgamesh's men if we have to make sure they're focused on and following us?"

"I'll fight as many of them as I have to when it comes down to that. Actually, I should probably try to take out as many as I can once we abandon this ship. That way there will be less following us," Zidane said somewhat thoughtfully.

Dagger bit her lower lip gently, tightly gripping the small weapon he had given her back in their bedroom. She looked down to his own twin daggers, still sheathed on his belt. She could not imagine leaving Zidane to fight on his own, even if the idea of such close combat terrified her. She took in a deep breath, knowing that she would have to make up her mind about the big decision very soon, but for the time being hid the her own knife inside her traveling jumper.

The genome stepped up onto the deck, his azure eyes glancing around the deck and just barely catching a glimpse of the rest of Tantalus hiding with Eiko on the far end. "We have to make this believable, okay, Dagger? If they think that the others didn't make it off the ship, then they might not follow them at all," he pointed out.

Chocolate orbs widened at the blond's words. The idea of something bad happening to Eiko and the members of Tantalus was not something that she wanted to think about. "Okay. I think I can do that," she asked quietly.

The two of them made their way over to the edge of the deck, far from the others and closer to the attacking ship. Zidane wrapped his arms around Dagger and jumped over the side of the ship, holding her close. He tucked into a roll, taking the majority of the impact. Just as they began to get up, one last cannon went off overhead, blasting a hole in the Prima Vista and catching it on fire. Chocolate orbs widened, overflowing with tears that did not have to be faked. "Zidane, they're still up there!" the raven-haired queen cried in a desperate, panicked voice.

Azure eyes were also wide at the sight of flames lighting up the early morning sky. The blond kept his arms around his love and stood there for a few minute, breathing heavily. He had already left some of their friends behind in Alexandria. Could he do the same thing again, this time to his own brothers and Eiko? "Damnit. . . " he cursed, unsure what other option they had. If they waited long enough to confirm that the others had made it safely off the airship, Gilgamesh's men would be close enough to see them as well and the whole plan would not have any chance to work.

Zidane turned his attention to the enemy airship as it began to descend, trying to get an idea of how many were following them. He was feeling so angry that he knew that he had to be close to Trance. "You go check the woods for the others. I'll stay and fight," he breathed out to Dagger as she still cried in his arms.

Garnet's skin paled as she looked up to the blond, her delicate body shaking as she imagined watching him walk away from her into danger like he had six years ago. "You're kidding. Zidane, I'm not letting you stay here alone. They'll kill you! I. . we don't have much time before their ship lands, but. . . teach me how to fight," she almost demanded. "We'll take them out together, then go look for the others."

He could not help but to smile the tiniest bit. "There's my beloved Dagger," Zidane said proudly.

.ix.

Steiner woke up with a heavy groan to find himself extremely sore, not even remembering ever falling asleep. In fact, his thoughts were pretty foggy and he could barely register what was going on. The knight rolled over and curled up some as best as he could, ready to fall right back to sleep, when he heard soft rustling not too far away.

"Adelbert? Are you awake?" Beatrix called out quietly.

Black eyes blinked softly, then widened as the lightly-armored man tried to sit up, just to figure that he could barely move. His surroundings were very dark, cold, and damp, but at least he knew that he was not alone from the soft voice calling to him. "Beatrix! Yes, I am awake. Are you okay?" he asked as memories of what had led to their current situation began to come back to him.

_"They're getting away! After them!" Gilgamesh shouted to his men as Zidane jumped over the edge of the balcony with Garnet secured in his arms._

_While they could not stop any men who had not yet come out on the balcony, Steiner and Beatrix both took out the ones who were stupid enough to turn their backs on the two of them. They both ran to the edge of the balcony, unable to see Zidane, Garnet, the Tantalus, or Eiko amongst the panicking audience. The knights then jumped over the railing, landing, in front of the door they knew the intruders would come out of._

"_Everyone, get to your homes and stay safe! Be careful and don't let your loved ones be left behind!" Beatrix called out to the people of Alexandria, who began to disperse at her words. She cast one last glance around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Garnet and Zidane to see that they were doing okay, but there were too many people and hopefully the others were all long gone._

_Heavy footsteps sounded behind the two of them and they spun around to meet Gilgamesh's soldiers with their swords. Beatrix moved into the castle quickly, taking out as many as she could while Steiner did the same, just not nearly as naturally fast. The woman, however, was quick to become surrounded as the guards realized that she was the tougher opponent. Steiner's black eyes widened at the sight of Gilgamesh coming down the stairs, heading straight for the distracted female knight, one of his swords drawn high. The black-haired man shoved his enemies away and ran passed several others. "Beatrix, behind you!" he called out, though he was already there, catching the raised sword with his own. Unfortunately, he did not notice one of the man's other hands brandish a second sword, passing it straight through his stomach. The knight grunted and doubled over as it was quickly removed. He fell to the ground and could barely register Beatrix running over to him, looking down at him with tears in her eyes before everything went black._

"Of course I am all right, Adelbert. You should be concerned with your own well-being," Beatrix told Steiner quietly. She was silent for a few moments before speaking once more. "Why did you get in his way, Steiner? Calling out to me was good enough to get my attention. I could have blocked his attacks."

Though he had obviously lost a lot of blood from being stabbed, he felt the bit that was remaining in his body rush to his cheeks. "I. . couldn't live with myself if there had been the chance that you wouldn't be okay and I had done nothing. . . " he stammered softly.

The two were quiet for a little longer before Steiner could hear Beatrix shifting around a bit. He felt her hand on his side as she reached through the prison bars that separated them, gentle compared to how it always seemed to tightly grip her sword. A warmth seemed to come from it, a faint light radiating as she concentrated on a simple Cure spell Garnet had taught her.

"Beatrix, you can't. . . Gilgamesh is after anyone who uses White magic. It's not worth-"

"You _are _worth it, Steiner. You always put others before yourself, especially Garnet or myself. I probably would have died back there if you hadn't stepped in," she finally admitted, knowing that she would not have been able to catch Gilgamesh's sword in time without risking being ambushed by the men she had been fighting in the first place.

Several more quiet minutes passed and Beatrix carefully moved her hand once more, intertwining her thin fingers with his larger ones. "Thank you for saving me, Adelbert," she whispered.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: And there's another chapter done! Thanks again, zestychicken2, for all the support and ideas! Let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter VIII: Fighting Fire

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: December 19, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: I would like to also thank Guest for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Of course Steiner and Beatrix have the hots for each other! bahaha I'm also really happy that you think that I'm staying in character as Zidane and Dagger! I definitely understand where you're coming from about Garnet not being wimpy. The way I'm playing it was just how I imagine it. She's never fought with a dagger, only with her rods/rackets, so I just think it would be a scary idea to suddenly be learning a new technique during such a dangerous time. Hopefully this chapter makes it up for you! Don't worry, she's going to be awesome!

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX does not belong to me. It was the last FF game to be produced under the name Square _Soft_ as opposed to _Enix_, which I think is pretty cool!

.ix.

Chapter VIII: Fighting Fire

Zidane watched as Garnet nervously looked down at the dagger he had given her. She turned the small weapon over in her hand, then looked up so her chocolate orbs met with his azure eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded quietly, wrapping her slim fingers around the hilt. He lifted one of his own daggers and used it to beckon her forward. "Whenever you're ready, try to attack me," he instructed.

Dagger stood there quietly, her feet keeping her anchored in place. Maybe this was going to be a waste of time. What would she be able to do, barely trained, against who knows how many of Gilgamesh's men? If only they had more time, she could learn a little better. Of course, she could always stand back and Cure Zidane while he fought, but that would only be helpful for so long, not to mention that it would infuriate the guards that were already after Eiko and herself for their magic.

"You can do this, Dagger. I _know_ you can," he reassured her.

The raven-haired queen breathed in deeply, then let it out. She ran at the blond, shakily holding the small blade in front of herself, not too sure about the positioning.

He easily caught it between both of his own blades and held it there for a moment or two. He gave her the softest of pushes back, swinging at her a little more slowly than he would normally attack. Of course, the Genome naturally moved quicker than most humans, so it gave his love the chance to try and block a pretty realistic attack.

Garnet bit her lower lip gently and quickly swung her own weapon upwards, the metals clanging together. A soft gasp escaped her lips and her chocolate orbs lit up with excitement. "Zidane, I did it!" she exclaimed.

Zidane smiled proudly, then glanced to the sky. The enemy ship was finally getting close enough that they would be spotted, though fortunately its occupants would have not been able to see the blond teaching the raven-haired female how to fight. "Great job, Dagger. Now you can be our secret weapon. They won't know what hit them!" he said with a grin.

Dagger smiled softly and nodded. She moved in closer to Zidane as the wind began to pick up from the motor of the enemy airship. He stepped in front of her and held his twin blades out at his side, ready to fight as many men as he had to in order to keep his beloved Dagger safe. If they were lucky, she would not even have to fight this time. "Leave it to me for right now. They don't have to know that you're learning to fight unless it's absolutely necessary," he told her. "I should be able to take most of them and you can just defend both of us. Then, once we've got them taken care of, we'll go check for Eiko and the guys," he added with a glance back towards the still burning Prima Vista

Chocolate orbs followed his azure gaze, shining faintly with tears as the queen once again became worried for everyone who had already given up so much so she could be safe. "Okay. . if you are sure that's the best way, Zidane. . . " she whispered.

The blond just barely had time to look over his shoulder to give the raven-haired female one last grin before the first wave of guards jumped down from the lowering airship. "Stay close," he whispered to her before running up to the first few, taking out two at a time with swift cuts across their chests. He then moved closer to meet the others coming down from the deck, hoping to block off their only way out so they could not try to ambush Dagger and himself. The way she had handled the small knife during their short practice had looked promising, but he knew that she was not emotionally ready to hurt someone in the way they would not even hesitate if given the chance.

The two of them heard something drop to the ground behind them. He felt Garnet flinch behind him, her hands holding the back of his shirt tightly. The blond, of course, glanced back over his shoulder to check on her, just to see that several more men had jumped off the airship, surrounding the two of them. "Damn. . . " he murmured. He blinked softly as Dagger turned away from him and gently pressed her back to his, one hand falling down to her side so she could pull out her own weapon, holding it a little shakily, but in the direction of the attackers on her side. Yet another proud smile came to the blond's lips and he quickly turned his attention back to the men advancing down the platform towards him. His blond hair and azure eyes flickered with specks of pink as he neared Trance.

The men charged down the unloading platform, trying to get to him before his powers heightened completely. He, of course, was able to easily block and counter all of their attacks. "You guys don't know who you're messing with! You should have never followed us and you _definitely_ shouldn't have attacked our ship!" he yelled angrily, swinging his twin daggers at the last few men in front of him before glancing over his shoulder once again to check on Garnet.

The raven-haired female raised her hand with the dagger to catch one of her attacker's sword. Her thin arms shook softly as she struggled to keep the man, who was a bit larger than Zidane, back. Two more guards were advancing towards her, ready to grab her until the blond swung his arms backwards, quickly cutting clean through each of their outstretched hands. Garnet let out a soft yelp before pushing all of her weight into the dagger, managing to shove the first man back with the other two as they stumbled back in pain from Zidane's attack. The Genome moved quickly so he could finish the three of them off, the signs of his Trance fading as he calmed back down. "Zidane. . thank you. . . " she whispered, gently hugging him from behind before glancing up to the enemy airship once again.

A few quiet minutes passed before he nodded slowly. "We should check the ship as quick as we can, then go check for the others," he told her softly, gently taking her hand in one of his own after sheathing one of his own daggers. The blond led the way up the walkways leading onto the ship. Azure eyes and chocolate orbs scanned the deck, not seeing a single soul. "It's not too big of a ship. How could they have destroyed the Prima Vista like that?" he muttered to himself.

Dagger gave Zidane's hand a gentle squeeze as she knew that he was worried about the others, though he was probably trying to hide it for her sake. "We should go check for Eiko and the guys," she said softly once they came back up onto the deck, having checked every room they had come across. The entire airship was empty and felt like a ghost ship after Garnet had watched Zidane take out each of its crew members.

The Genome was quiet for a few moments before looking to his love once again and managing a small smile. "You're right," he murmured before the two of them began to head down from the ship once more. "That bastard Gilgamesh isn't even on board. He has no problems sending his men out to do his dirty work. Damn him."

Soon enough, they were walking carefully around the crashed and burnt out Prima Vista. The faint sound of a flute drifted to their ears and the queen tensed. "Eiko?" Garnet called out nervously. The music could only mean one thing – it was how the girl focused her magic as she was not quite used to casting spells without an instrument just yet. Of course, having something tangible to focus with helped immensely and even made the spells cast stronger than ones cast without any aid.

The raven-haired woman shook her head gently – now was not the time to think about the technicalities. "Zidane. . something's wrong. . . Eiko's casting magic!" she told him in a panic.

.ix.

"Girl, you're going to draw unwanted attention to us. Didn't the same thing happen in Lindblum?" Baku asked somewhat coldly.

Eiko frowned quite a bit, but kept her focus on the task she had set herself to. 'I'm not gonna sit around and let people suffer just because that stupid Gilgamesh guy is after magic users like me and Dagger,' she thought to herself as she looked down to an unconscious Blank.

_Teal eyes squinted through the early morning darkness as the indigo-haired teen managed to catch a glimpse of Zidane grabbing Dagger and jumping over the side of the airship. "All right – it's about time for us to get going, too. Monkey Boy's going to keep those guys distracted so we can head to the summoners' village with no one following us," Baku said._

_Cinna frowned softly. "I'm really sorry, guys. I should've been paying more attention and noticed that we were being tailed," he said guiltily._

_Unfortunately, their time to talk was cut short. A final cannon was shot, shaking the entire ship. Eiko fell to the deck and yelped, though the sound was quick to turn into a scream as the ship burst into flames and began to spiral towards the ground. Somewhere far away, she could hear Garnet screaming as well, but the queen's cries were droned out by the roaring fires that quickly spread along the deck, surrounding the princess. She looked around wide-eyed, unsure of how to escape. The men of Tantalus were nowhere she could easily spot them, which caused her heart to race. Either they had already abandoned the airship or something really bad had happened to them._

"_Blank! Marcus, Cinna, Baku! Where'd you guys go?" she called out fearfully. The preteen dragged an arm across her moist face, already beginning to feel the burn of the seemingly endless fire. She managed to push herself to her feet and take a few steps, but fell right back down to her knees as she felt a bit lightheaded. "H-help. . . " she coughed out. Her vision was starting to become hazy when she saw a shadow growing larger against the fire._

_Blank pushed his way through, his expression – as always – unreadable as he let himself get burnt. "Come on, Princess. We're getting out of here," he said softly, scooping the young girl into his thin but strong arms. The redhead hunched over her small frame as she coughed softly into her hands, then covered her mouth and nose to keep herself from breathing in more of the smoke. Her other hand reached up and held onto the man's shoulder, tightening even more so as he carried her through the fire he had just come through. Teal eyes widened and looked up to his face, knowing that he was taking the majority of the fire, just to keep her from getting burnt. He looked back down at the girl, his terra-cotta eyes just barely visible past the belt he always wore around his head as it was burnt pretty badly to the point where it was beginning to fall apart. A reassuring smile played on his lips, though he said nothing to the girl. A faint pink came to her cheeks and she looked away quickly, trying to see how much further they had to go or if she could spot Baku, Cinna, or Marcus._

_Before she knew it, Blank vaulted the two of them over the railing and they landed right between the three other men of Tantalus. The redhead set the indigo-haired preteen down before swaying a bit on his feet. The princess let out a yelp of surprise as the ex-thief fell right on top of her. Eiko threw her arms out, struggling to keep him from falling too hard. She was exhausted from being caught in the fire, but still managed to carefully sit down with Blank's head in her lap. The young summoner then pulled out her flute and began to play a soft melody._

"Eiko?" she could hear Garnet calling out to her from not too far away, pulling her out of her thoughts and concentration. The area was still smoky from the fire, so none of them could make out how far away they were from one another. The preteen heard the older female frantically point out to Zidane that she was using her magic and felt a little guilty. She knew that she needed to be careful, but Blank had saved her. She was not about to let him die.

.ix.

Zidane felt a chill run down his spine at Garnet's words. He knew that Eiko using her White magic meant one of two things – she and the Tantalus were in trouble, or somebody was already hurt. The blond closed his fingers a little more tightly around his love's hand as he picked up the pace, pushing through the smoke that surrounded the Prima Vista. After what felt like days, he spotted familiar indigo hair falling down and hiding both Eiko's face as well as the face of whichever one of his brothers the girl was trying to heal. Of course, he had a sinking feeling that he knew who it was without even taking a look around at the other ex-thieves.

"Blank!" he called out, his azure eyes wide and brimmed with tears. He ran over and dropped to his knees at Eiko's side, Garnet still right behind him with her delicate hand inside his. "Damnit!" the Genome cursed, punching the ground with his free hand. "What happened?" he practically demanded, looking away from his best friend only so he could finally look to the other members of Tantalus for an answer.

"You two have seriously got some knight-in-shining-armor issues when it comes to princesses," Baku said simply. The man was not making fun of Zidane or Blank – he just did not know how else to explain the youngest two members' protective instinct towards Garnet and Eiko.

Chocolate orbs blinked softly at the leader's words and slowly wandered to meet teal ones as they looked up desperately. "H-he _saved_ me," the younger healer choked out, no longer able to concentrate on performing a spell. She breathed heavily, wiping a sooty arm across her sweaty and equally sooty face.

The raven-haired female nodded softly, then glanced to her blond love once more, seeing the devastated look in his azure eyes. "Let me heal him. You must be exhausted, Eiko. Drink some of this," she instructed softly, carefully passing the younger White Mage a small bottle of Elixir, which would help with both the damage the fire had caused and the tiredness from using magic.

One more look at Zidane was met with a concerned look of his own, which let her read his thoughts without him even speaking. "It'll be fine, Zidane. You took out all of Gilgamesh's men. We checked the entire ship. There's no one left to come after us," she told him reassuringly. She then turned to the burnt Blank and took in a deep breath. She knew that it was going to be difficult to cast any spell without a rod or racket, but she had to try. Carefully, she slipped her hand out of her love's hold and gently moved both of them over the redhead's body. She checked his neck for a pulse, which was very faint. A few silent moments passed before her entire body began to glow, a warmth passing through her and slowly transferring to his body, along with the light of the Life spell.

The man gasped sharply and tried to get his breathing back to normal. A groan escaped his lips as his body felt like it was still on fire. "What-?" he began.

Eiko ran her slim fingers through his spiky red head. "Shhh. . You're gonna be okay. . . " she whispered reassuringly, having such great faith in Garnet's healing abilities, even without something to aid her in spell casting.

Zidane leaned forward anxiously, quietly taking in the sight of the burns that marked his best friend's already discolored skin. He then glanced up to Garnet as she began to work on a Cure spell. Several more minutes passed with no noise other than Blank's grumbling, which slowly began to subside. Soon, the light stopped emanating from Garnet and the queen wavered slightly. The Genome was quick to throw his arms out to catch her, of course. He balanced her in one arm, pulling an Ether out of his pocket with the opposite hand.

"Thank you, Zidane," Garnet said softly, taking the bottle and carefully uncapping it so she could take a few sips. Quietly, she watched as Blank began to shift in Eiko's gentle hold. "You should take it easy, Blank," she warned him quietly.

Eiko nodded quickly in agreement, her indigo hair flying. "Yeah! Don't move so much!"

Zidane looked at Blank once again, azure meeting terra-cotta for the first in a very long time. "Good to have you back. You need to get some rest, though. I'll carry you," he offered with a relieved smile. The blond then looked at Dagger for a moment. "You okay?" he asked.

She smiled softly and nodded, gently pulling away. "We should get going. I guess we don't have to split up any more, though," she said, feeling a bit confident that they would not be caught since she had watched Zidane take out all of the guards they had come across, then search the ship for others.

"Their ship is in good condition, right?" Baku asked suddenly. Both Zidane and Garnet looked up to the man and nodded. "We're out a ship ourselves now, so it'd be best that we take theirs in case of an emergency," he said.

The Genome thought about it, then nodded in agreement. "We'll do once last sweep of it before leaving. We shouldn't take it all the way to Madain Sari, though. For all we know, Gilgamesh has a way to track it." He shifted Blank up onto his back and stood slowly. "It'll take us a little out of the way, but we could probably leave it at Conde Petie," he suggested. A wide grin then came across his face. "The good news is we won't have any trouble crossing to the Sanctuary, especially since we're married for real now," he pointed out as he looked to Dagger once again.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: Yay for a chapter with some more action in it! I hope you guys like it! Please let me know what you think!


	9. Chapter IX: Conde Petie

Title: You're Not Alone

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: December 12, 2014

Summary: War is breaking out in Gaia once more. It is up to Garnet, as the queen of Alexandria, and her acquaintances to figure out just who is waging the war and what they can do to put an end to it!

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: Oh my goodness, I am now on CHAPTER IX! :D This is such an accomplishment for me, not to mention it's the number of the game! hahaha My roommate and I were talking about our poor future children that are going to be forced to cosplay as characters they don't know and I was saying that I would have my daughter cosplay Garnet! She then told be that then I can't have my son dress up as Zidane and I answered by saying that my son better not act like Zidane! XD Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. :( I so wish I did!

.ix.

Chapter IX: Conde Petie

There was no way to tell how much time had passed since they had been thrown into the prison. Steiner was doing better than when he had first woken up, but had insisted that Beatrix not heal him so much that it would be obvious that she knew a little basic White magic. Reluctantly, she had agreed, knowing that he had a valid point. Fortunately, none of the guards who check on the two knights every so often noticed how the man never seemed to be in much pain from his wounds.

Everything was quiet most of the time. Beatrix sat quietly, staring at the small barred window looking into their cells. She could hear someone coming down the hall and was extremely tense, somehow certain that it was not one of the men who usually checked on the two of them. The brunette woman shifted a little, reaching through the bars and gently placing her hand over Steiner's. Even the simplest contact with the man made her feel ten times better.

The door opened, shining quite a bit more light into the cell. "You two look comfortable," Gilgamesh's voice teased as he took a few steps into the jail. He was on Steiner's side, assuming that the man was still weak from being stabbed. The knight sat up slowly, leaning against the bars so he could block Beatrix from the four-armed man's view as best as he could.

A dry laugh came from the redhead's lips "You're still willing to take a beating for her? Well, you don't have to worry about that this time. I am here to release you both, as long as you promise to behave," he told them, a smirk visible just underneath the mask that covered the upper half of his face. "You can go back to your lives outside of this cell."

Black eyes watched Gilgamesh suspiciously. "Living under your watch, even back in the kingdom, is no better than being held prisoner down here," Steiner scoffed before glancing back at Beatrix. He could tell that she wanted to get out of the cell and make Gilgamesh pay for what he had done. The man gave the woman's hand a gentle squeeze, then looked at the other man once more. "What do you want?" he asked.

Another laugh sounded and Gilgamesh shook his head some. "There's no catch. I'll let you two live together and go about your lives just like the rest of your beloved kingdom. My only concern is your queen, whose return we are all patiently waiting for, and the princess of Lindblum," he said before pointing out, "If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done so."

He then pulled out the key to the jail cells and tossed them on the ground, kicking them over to Steiner. "There's a vacant house not too far from the castle. My sources gathered that the queen herself reserved it for either of you or that that thief of hers to stay in if you needed to get out of the castle. It's all yours. I will call for you if I need anything," he told them before turning away and exiting the jail cell. "Please escort these two to their new home. I have no use of keeping them locked up," he told his men, who had been standing guard just outside the cell in case he needed backup.

Steiner watched in disbelief, then grabbed the key and put it in the lock of Beatrix's cell. The gate opened and the female knight quickly stood, walking through so she could help the man to his own feet. "Let's get out of here, Adelbert," she said softly.

Soon enough, they were led out of the prison tower, both flinching as they walked into the bright, early morning light. They walked through the kingdom, which was quiet, but hardly any different from a normal day before Gilgamesh's reign. Beatrix had her hands on Steiner's back and arm to make sure he had the support he needed as his body was still healing.

Once they reached the house Gilgamesh had spoken of, they went inside and the guards stayed outside. Immediately, they both began to look around for any signs that they were being watched. "They are right outside. So, we seem fine in here. They will know if we leave the house and how long we are gone, though," Beatrix told Steiner as she peered out the window.

"I doubt they will even let us go anywhere on our own," Steiner pointed out. "Gilgamesh knows that Garnet will contact us the first chance she gets," the male knight added.

Beatrix nodded in agreement and closed the curtains. "We have to warn her, Adelbert. Garnet worries far too much. We have to let her know that Gilgamesh doesn't seem to be harming the kingdom, that he is only after her and Eiko for their magic. She can't come back here so soon, or war will break out and she will be in so much danger. We have no weapons to defend her if she does returned," she pointed out, nervously brushing her long caramel hair back with one hand.

Steiner could not help but to smile softly. "Garnet is not the only one who worries, Beatrix," he began. The man took a few steps closer and gently placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "We will get a message out to her as soon as we can. Just let me figure out how we can send it without it being detected," he said quietly.

Beatrix stared silently out from beneath her hair, taking in the sight of Steiner. He seemed a lot better off out of the cell, even without her casting more magic on him. She shifted slightly, brushing her hair back once again before stepping forwards and carefully wrapping her arms around his larger build. "Adelbert. . I. . . do not know what I would do with myself if your sacrifice for me had resulted in your death," she admitted, her words barely audible.

Black eyes blinked a few times, a faint pink dusting Steiner's cheeks. He looked down and Beatrix and gently moved his strong arms around her petite frame in return.

.ix.

Chocolate orbs opened wide as Garnet woke up from a restless sleep once again. She looked down to Eiko, who was still fast asleep and cuddling up to her. A small smile came to her lips, feeling relieved that the younger summoner could still rest despite everything that had gone on lately. The raven-haired female brushed some of the preteen's indigo hair away from her face, which still felt hot to the touch after she had been caught on deck of the burning Prima Vista the morning before. 'Thank goodness Blank could reach her in time. . . ' she thought to herself. She could only imagine how scared Eiko must have been, then how relieved Blank showing up would have made her. She could remember feeling the same way countless times when Zidane had come to her own rescue throughout the years they had known each other.

Her thoughts wandered back to when she and Zidane had found the Tantalus and Eiko all surrounding the unconscious Blank. Baku had compared the redhead to Zidane, always out to save the princess. The queen sat up a little in bed and looked across the room to another bed, which was occupied by said ex-thief as he was still recovering from the intense burns he had received. 'Does he have feelings for Eiko like Zidane had for me when we first met?' she wondered. A small smile came to her lips, thinking that it would be sweet if Blank and Eiko ended up together.

A soft knock sounded and Garnet lifted her gaze to the door, where her chocolate orbs met Cinna's golden eyes. "Good morning, Cinna. Is everything okay?" she asked softly.

The round ex-thief nodded. "We're landing near Conde Petie soon. Zidane and Marcus are helping the boss, so they sent me down here to get you three," he explained.

Dagger smiled a bit more. "All right. I'll wake Eiko up, if you want to get Blank," she told him. The man moved across the room to the second bed and gently shook his brother, while she gave the other girl a soft shake as well. "Eiko, it's time to wake up. We're almost there," she said in her song-like voice.

Teal orbs fluttered softly, then blinked open wide. "'mornin', Dagger!" the preteen greeted with a grin. "Are we there yet?" she asked curiously.

The raven-haired woman laughed at the girl's energy. "We're landing soon," she told the younger female.

Eiko jumped out of bed and ran around the room, already wide awake and extremely lively despite having just woken up. She pushed pass Cinna and bounced up onto Blank's bed. "Hey! It's almost time to go!" she exclaimed.

Terra-cotta eyes opened wide as the redhead grunted in pain and shock. "What the hell? I save you and you hurt me in return?" he asked, eyeing the indigo-haired preteen warily.

The young girl grinned sheepishly, a faint pink coloring her cheeks. "Oh. . sorry, Blank. . . " she apologized.

The man gave a soft shake of his head. "Anyways, let's go. It's probably no the best idea to hang around in this airship for too long, especially when it's grounded."

There was a gentle bump as the airship landed and the four made their way up to the deck. The ship was already tied up and Baku was beginning to walk down the unboarding platform. Garnet stepped out last, carefully shielding her chocolate orbs from the drastic change between the dim cabins below to the sunlit deck above. She took a few steps after Cinna, then gasped softly as she felt thin, yet strong arms slip around her waist. The raven-haired female spun around to face the blond male and smiled sweetly. "Good morning, my thief."

Zidane leaned in and caught her lips in a soft, yet passionate kiss. "Good morning, my beloved Dagger," he greeted in return. Slowly, his tail wrapped itself around her hand as it hung down at her side, causing her to giggle softly. She turned her hand over and gently closed her fingers around the furry appendage. "Ready to head into Conde Petie?" he asked with a grin.

She nodded and carefully began to pull away, though she kept a gentle hold on his tail. "Let's go," she said with a small smile. Chocolate orbs glanced ahead to Eiko, who was practically dragging Blank down the unboarding ramp. Garnet giggled softly as it was funny to watch the indigo-haired girl pull the redhead man who was hardly any taller than she.

Azure eyes watched the other two as well, a playful smirk twitching the corners of his lips upwards. He would definitely be giving his best friend a hard time about it some time in the near future.

Dagger looked up to Zidane once more and immediately knew what he was thinking. "Take it easy on Blank," she told him in a gentle, but scolding manner.

Her words, of course, only made the blond grin even more "You say that like I always cause trouble," he mused playfully. His arms snaked their way around her slim waist and pulled the raven-haired female close once again. He nuzzled his face into her neck, causing her to double over and giggle, a sound that was music to his ears. "I _never _cause trouble."

Blank shot a glance over his shoulder and rolled his terra-cotta eyes. "Get a room," he mumbled grumpily.

The blond stuck his tongue out at his best friend, then continued to hold Dagger extremely close.

"You should've heard him last night, crying like a baby because he _missed her so much_!" Cinna teased, causing Garnet's cheeks to flush a deep pink.

"Shut up, Cinna. You're just jealous because you've never been kissed by a girl," the Genome said flatly, his azure eyes narrowed warningly. He continued to hug his newlywed wife close and whispered in her ear so only she could hear, "I did miss you, though."

The queen's cheeks turned an even deeper shade of rose. She gently moved her hands, placing them on top of his. "I missed you, too," she said softly, leaning back slightly against him as they walked down the ramp together.

Things were quite for a few minutes as they walked into the mountain village of Conde Petie, the smell of breakfast being the first thing that greeted the seven of them, even before the usual cheers of "rally ho". Simultaneously, all of the men's stomachs growled and the girls giggled softly. Chocolate orbs then widened as Garnet realized something. "Guys, we don't have any money for food. . . " she said softly with a small frown. The queen then watched as all of the males exchanged silent looks, seeming to agree on something, before she put both hands on her hips. "Don't even think about stealing!" she huffed.

Zidane felt her looking at him in particular, knowing that she wanted him to talk the others out of the idea. The blond let out a heavy sigh. "She's right, guys. We can't cause any trouble that will draw attention to ourselves. Now, c'mon – let's go see if there are any jobs we can do to earn our breakfast and supplies to bring with us to Madain Sari," he said softly. Azure eyes then wandered over to Blank. "Will you stay with Dagger and Eiko?" he asked. The blond did not mention that it would also be beneficial to his best friend, who was still obviously recovering, since he knew that the redhead would say that he was fine and insist on helping as well.

Dagger frowned a little. "I want to help out, too, so you only have to stay with Eiko," she told Blank.

The redhead looked from Zidane to Garnet, then shrugged gently. "I guess I can," he said softly, still too worn out from his burns to do much of anything. He was actually surprising himself with the fact that had not passed out yet.

"We'll go find somewhere to eat while you guys take care of the money to pay!" Eiko exclaimed, grinning widely. Yet again, she took Blank's hand and began to pull him along.

Zidane watched as Marcus and Cinna fixed each other, then himself with curious glances. The blond grinned and shrugged his shoulders dismissively before turning to look at Garnet. "Shall we go find a job, my beloved Dagger?" he asked with a smile, holding out his hand towards her.

The raven-haired female smiled and gently placed her hand in his. "All righty!" she exclaimed with a song-like giggle. She then looked around a little. "It seems so quiet this early in the morning. Maybe we should look around to see if any of the restaurant owners need help," she said softly.

Soon enough, the couple reached a restaurant. Garnet spoke with the owner, explaining their embarrassing situation without giving away too much information about who they were. They both started off waiting on tables, the queen really enjoying herself as she met all sorts of different people. When it slowed down a little, her earning a lot more tips than Zidane, she had an idea. She pressed a quick kiss to the blond's cheek and smiled sweetly as they crossed paths towards the back of the restaurant. "I'm going to see if the chef will let me help in the kitchen," she told him.

Azure eyes blinked softly at her words and a slight frown came to the blond's lips. He had been keeping a close watch on Dagger, even though the town seemed to be safe as he remembered it to be. He knew that he would not be able to watch her if she went into the back to help the cook. "Dagger, you don't have to. . . " he began to protest.

"I want to, Zidane. It's been such a long time since I've gotten to cook. And if I can get the hang of it again, I'd like to make food for everyone when we're staying in Madain Sari," she told her love, gently wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her lips to his for a split second.

A soft sigh of defeat escaped the Genome's lips. "All right. Guess I'll see you once the breakfast rush is over," he said with a crooked smile, returning the gentle kiss to her lips.

The raven-haired female pulled back with a bright smile and sparkling chocolate orbs. "Yep. See ya!" she said before spinning on her heels and carefully opening the doors to the kitchen. "Hello. May I please help you with some of the meals now?" she asked the chef politely.

She was put right to work, watching for several minutes before the chef let her try to recreate one of the dishes that had been shown to her. The rest of the morning went by quickly and she soon met up with Zidane again. "That was fun," she said with a sweet smile, taking his hand in hers yet again.

The blond made a face. "Yeah, I guess. Guys don't like to give good tips," he said.

The raven-haired female giggled softly. "That's only because you don't flirt with them," she teased. He crossed his free arm over his chest and huffed, which caused her to laugh some more. "Well, it's true, isn't it? Don't even try to deny it, Zidane Tribal," she said with a playful smile. He sighed, knowing that he could not lie to her.

As they walked through Conde Petie together, searching for the others, they both looked around excitedly. "At least we can take things easy for a while before heading out," Zidane said with a slight smile.

Garnet nodded softly in agreement. "Only for a while, though. We don't want to be found by Gilgamesh's men when there are so many people around. Who knows what they'll do," she murmured.

The blond looked over to his raven-haired wife and gently wrapped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled his face into her soft hair and breathed in deeply, causing her to giggle softly. "We'll keep them from hurting anyone as much as we can," he promised.

Dagger turned to face Zidane, not moving from his arms. She looked up at him through her wide, chocolate orbs. "Thank you, Zidane. For everything," she said softly, her hand wandering down to the dagger that was sheathed at her waist. "I really wish I had something to give you. . . " she said softly. He began to shake his head, but she gently pressed a finger to his lips. "_Oh_, I know!" The queen moved both of her hands once more and carefully looped her delicate fingers around the chain of her necklace. She raised it over her head, then his, carefully tucking the gem inside his shirt.

Azure eyes blinked a few times and widened. "Dagger, that's. . . " he began to protest. Again, he was hushed, but this time, it was by her lips pressing to his.

"It's something I've had for a very long time, just like you had your dagger. And it holds memories that are very important to me, also like your dagger does for you. I think we should keep them safe for each other until we are sure everyone is protected again," she told him with a small smile.

Zidane grinned widely. "That sounds like a great idea," he said before suddenly dipping Garnet down and pressing his lips to hers once more.

"God. How'd I know that you two couldn't be found because you can't keep your hands off each other?" Blank spoke up from not too far away.

Chocolate orbs blinked softly and Garnet quickly stood, spinning around in Zidane's hold once again. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink as her embarrassed gaze met those teasing ones of the Tantalus and the slightly worried one of Eiko. The purple-haired preteen ran over and took the older female's hand in her own. "We were all waiting for you two to meet back up with us so we could go get food," she said with a pout.

"Sorry, everyone. We ended up working at a pretty busy restaurant and I didn't realize just how much time had passed," the queen said apologetically. She gently squirmed out of her love's hold, then looked down at Eiko once again. "Let's go eat," she said softly, beginning to lead the way through the mountain town.

The guys of Tantalus all hung back a little from the two girls, Blank and Zidane bringing up the rear. "You're really gross, you know that? Not everyone wants to see you all over Dagger," the redhead told the blond, who just laughed.

"You're the one who's gross for watching," Zidane retorted. "And you act like you wouldn't do the same thing if you had a girlfriend," he teased, knowing that Blank could also be a ladies' man when he wanted to be. He watched as his best friend's expression grew a bit distant. "Are you worried about Rubes?" he asked quietly, being the only one who really knew that the redhead had some sort of feelings towards the only female member of Tantalus. While it was obvious that Blank now also had feelings for a certain princess, the blond could tell that the indigo-haired girl was not the only female on his best friend's mind. "You know she can handle herself. If Gilgamesh tries anything, she'll just bite his head off like she'd do to any of us," he pointed out with a small smile.

Blank rolled his terra-cotta eyes and stuffed his hands down by sides. "Yeah, you're probably right. Anyways, we should probably catch up," he said, nodding towards the others who were getting further away.

Zidane glanced ahead and nodded in agreement. "All right, let's go!" he exclaimed before running ahead to catch up with Dagger and Eiko.

.ix.

Authoress's Note: I know, I know, that's a really weird spot to leave off at, but the Conde Petie sequence was starting to get too long! I really don't have anything planned to happen there, haha. Yep, this was sort of a filler chapter. A little happened in Alexandria, though, so let me know what you thought about that!


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